tout

Meanings

1. Someone advertising for customers in an aggressive way.
2. A person at a racecourse who offers supposedly inside information on which horse is likely to win.
3. An informer in the Irish Republican Army.
4. A spy for a smuggler, thief, or the like.

1. To flaunt, to publicize/publicise; to boast or brag about; to promote.
2. To spy out information about (a horse, a racing stable, etc.).
3. To give a tip on (a racehorse) to a person, with the expectation of sharing in any winnings.
4. To spy out the movements of racehorses at their trials, or to get by stealth or other improper means the secrets of the stable, for betting purposes.
5. To act as a tout; to give a tip on a racehorse.
6. To look for, try to obtain; used with for.
7. To look upon or watch.

1. In the game of solo, a proposal to win all eight tricks.

Etymology

From Middle English touten (“to jut out, protrude, gaze upon, observe, peer”), from Old English *tūtian (“to be sticking out, protrude”), related to Old English tȳtan (“to stand out, be conspicuous, shine”), ultimately from Proto-Germanic *tut(t)- (“to stick out, project”). Compare Icelandic túta (“a teat-like prominence”), tútna (“to be blown up”). Possibly influenced by dialectal toot (“to stick out; project; peer out; peep”), from Middle English toten, totien, from Old English tōtian (“to peep out; look; pry; spectate”). Compare also Old English tot, ġetot (“pomp, splendour, vainglory”).