v., tout·ed, tout·ing, touts. v.intr.
- To solicit customers, votes, or patronage, especially in a brazen way.
- To obtain and deal in information on racehorses.
- To solicit or importune: street vendors who were touting pedestrians.
- Chiefly British. To obtain or sell information on (a racehorse or stable) for the guidance of bettors.
- To promote or praise energetically; publicize: "For every study touting the benefits of hormone therapy, another warns of the risks" (Yanick Rice Lamb).
- Chiefly British. One who obtains information on racehorses and their prospects and sells it to bettors.
- One who solicits customers brazenly or persistently: "The administration of the nation's literary affairs falls naturally into the hands of touts and thieves" (Lewis H. Lapham).
- Chiefly Scots and Irish Slang. One who informs against others; an informer.
[Middle English tuten, to peer.]
touter tout'er n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
