touch

Also from Answers.com... Alzheimer's Disease Learn what Alzheimer's is, and how to care for sufferers.

v., touched, touch·ing, touch·es.

v.tr.

1. To cause or permit a part of the body, especially the hand or fingers, to come in contact with so as to feel: reached out and touched the smooth stone.
2. 1. To bring something into light contact with: touched the sore spot with a probe.
   2. To bring (one thing) into light contact with something else: grounded the radio by touching a wire to it; touching fire to a fuse.
3. To press or push lightly; tap: touched a control to improve the TV picture; touched 19 on the phone to get room service.
4. To lay hands on in violence: I never touched him!
5. To eat or drink; taste: She didn't touch her food.
6. To disturb or move by handling: Just don't touch anything in my room!
7. 1. To meet without going beyond; adjoin: the ridge where his property touches mine.
   2. Mathematics. To be tangent to.
   3. To come up to; reach: when the thermometer touches 90°.
   4. To match in quality; equal: Rival artists can't touch her work at its best.
8. To deal with, especially in passing; treat briefly or allusively: some remarks touching recent events.
9. To be pertinent to; concern: environmental problems that touch us all.
10. To affect the emotions of; move to tender response: an appeal that touched us deeply.
11. To injure slightly: plants touched by frost.
12. To color slightly; tinge: a white petal touched with pink.
13. 1. To draw with light strokes.
    2. To change or improve by adding fine lines or strokes.
14. To stamp (tested metal).
15. Slang. To wheedle a loan or handout from: touched a friend for five dollars.
16. 1. Archaic. To strike or pluck the keys or strings of (a musical instrument).
    2. To play (a musical piece).

v.intr.

1. To touch someone or something.
2. To be or come into contact: Don't let the live wires touch.

n.

1. The act or an instance of touching.
2. The physiological sense by which external objects or forces are perceived through contact with the body.
3. A sensation experienced in touching something with a characteristic texture: felt the touch of snowflakes on her face.
4. A light push; a tap: an electric switch that requires just a touch.
5. A discernible mark or effect left by contact with something.
6. A small change or addition, or the effect achieved by it: Candlelight provided just the right touch.
7. A suggestion, hint, or tinge: a touch of jealousy.
8. A mild attack: a touch of the flu.
9. A small amount; a dash: a touch of paprika.
10. 1. A manner or technique of striking the keys of a keyboard instrument: He played briskly with a light touch.
    2. The resistance to pressure characteristic of the keys of a keyboard: an old piano with uneven touch.
11. An ability to propel a ball a desired distance: a golfer with no touch around the green.
12. A facility; a knack: retained his touch as a carpenter in his retirement.
13. A characteristic way of doing things: recognized my friend's touch in the choice of the card.
14. The state of being in contact or communication: kept in touch with several classmates; out of touch with current trends.
15. An official stamp indicating the quality of a metal product.
16. Slang.
    1. The act of approaching someone for a loan or handout.
    2. A prospect for a loan or handout: a generous person, a soft touch for beggars.
17. Sports. The area just outside the sidelines in soccer or just outside and including the sidelines in Rugby.

phrasal verbs:

touch down

1. To make contact with the ground; land: The spacecraft touched down on schedule.

touch off

1. To cause to explode; fire.
2. To initiate; trigger: disclosures that touched off a public uproar.
3. To describe or portray with deft precision.

touch on or upon

1. To deal with (a topic) in passing.
2. To pertain to; concern.
3. To approach being; verge on: frenzy that touched on clinical insanity.

touch up

1. To improve by making minor corrections, changes, or additions.

idiom:

touch base (or bases) Informal.

1. To renew a line of communication: “He went out of his way to touch base with a broad cross section of . . . residents” (George B. Merry).

[Middle English touchen, from Old French touchier, ultimately from Vulgar Latin *toccāre.]

touchable touch'a·ble adj.
touchableness touch'a·ble·ness n.
toucher touch'er n.

SYNONYMS  touch, feel, finger, handle, palpate, paw. These verbs mean to bring the hands or fingers into contact with so as to give or receive a physical sensation: gently touched my hand; felt the runner's pulse; fingered the worry beads; handle a bolt of fabric; palpates the patient's abdomen; fans who pawed the celebrity's arm. See also synonyms at affect.

also touch up

verb

1. To bring the hands or fingers, for example, into contact with so as to give or receive a physical sensation: feel, finger, handle, palpate. See touch/not touch.
2. To bring into or make contact with: contact. See touch/not touch.
3. To be contiguous or next to: abut, adjoin, border, bound², butt², join, meet¹, neighbor, verge. See near/far/distance.
4. To be equal or alike: compare, correspond, equal, match, measure up, parallel. Informal stack up. See same/different/compare.
5. To call or direct attention to something. advert, bring up, mention, point, point out, refer. See words.
6. To evoke a usually strong mental or emotional response from: affect¹, get (to), impress, move, strike. See touch/not touch.

phrasal verb - touch down

To come to rest on the ground: alight¹, land, light², set down, settle,, move/halt.

phrasal verb - touch off

1. To release or cause to release energy suddenly and violently, especially with a loud noise: blast, blow¹ (up), burst, detonate, explode, fire, fulminate, go off. See explosion/collapse.
2. To be the cause of: bring, bring about, bring on, cause, effect, effectuate, generate, induce, ingenerate, lead to, make, occasion, result in, secure, set off, stir¹ (up), trigger. Idioms: bring topasseffect, give rise to. See start/end.
3. To stir to action or feeling: egg on, excite, foment, galvanize, goad, impel, incite, inflame, inspire, instigate, motivate, move, pique, prick, prod, prompt, propel, provoke, set off, spur, stimulate, trigger, work up. See cause/effect, excite/bore/interest.

phrasal verb - touch up

To improve by making minor changes or additions: polish, retouch,, better/worse.

noun

1. An act of touching: feeling, palpation. See touch/not touch.
2. A coming together so as to be touching: contact, contingence. See touch/not touch.
3. The faculty or ability to perceive tactile stimulation: feel, feeling, tactility. See touch/not touch.
4. A particular sensation conveyed by means of physical contact: feel, feeling. See touch/not touch.
5. A slight amount or indication: breath, dash, ghost, hair, hint, intimation, semblance, shade, shadow, soupçon, streak, suggestion, suspicion, taste, tinge, trace, whiff, whisper. Informal whisker. See big/small/amount, show/hide.
6. A situation allowing exchange of ideas or messages: communication, contact, intercommunication. See connect, touch/not touch.

Idioms beginning with touch:
touch and go
touch base with
touch bottom
touch down
touched by, be
touched in the head
touch on
touch up

See also common touch; finishing touch; hit (touch) bottom; in touch; lose one's touch; lose touch; not touch with a ten-foot pole; out of touch; put the arm (touch) on; soft touch.

---

n

Definition: tiny amount
Antonyms: lot

v

Definition: make mention
Antonyms: secrete

v

Definition: make physical contact
Antonyms: cower, shrink, shy away

---

n

The sense by which contact with an object provides evidence of its properties.

Term used to describe, in keyboard instruments, the amount of force required to depress a key and/or the distance that a key travels; in performance, it refers to the manner of striking the keys. The relationship of a player's touch to tone on the piano is a matter that has been much disputed; in fact the pianist can control only the volume of individual sounds but with control of touch can give the illusion of varying the tone by means of sensitive balance and articulation.

The word ‘touch’ was used in the 16th and 17th centuries to refer to drawing sound from an instrument, in the sense that toccata means ‘a touching’.

---

1. Black basalt or basanite, capable of being carved, used for fonts and tombs, e.g. the Tournai fonts of Hants.

2. Compact dark-coloured stone, such as Petworth or Purbeck marble, capable of taking a high polish, used for Gothic shafts, tombs, etc.

tactile sense

The sense by which the size and shape of objects are perceived when they come into contact with the body surface. Touch commonly refers to a number of other senses that are diffused all over the body in addition to the touch sense proper. These are the pressure sense, by which the heaviness and hardness of objects are perceived; the heat sense, by which increases in cutaneous temperature are perceived; the cold sense, by which reductions in cutaneous temperature are perceived (see thermoreceptors); and the pain sense, by which pricks, pinches, and other painful effects are perceived.

---

Objects in contact with the skin can arouse a variety of tactile sensations, of which introspection allows several qualities to be distinguished: for example, vibration, steady pressure, light touch. The sensations can be graded in intensity in a predictable manner in relation to the magnitude of the stimulus, as described quantitatively by the Weber–Fechner and Stevens's power law relations (see psychophysics). The position of an applied stimulus, both absolute for a single point and relative with respect to two loci of stimulation, can be detected, with varying degrees of accuracy, in different parts of the body surface.

The physiological mechanisms underlying these perceptual properties can be analysed in a systematic manner, starting with the neural receptor elements in the skin. These are at the ends of axons connected with the spinal cord and brain stem. Neural processing occurs at the spinal, brain-stem, and thalamic levels on the pathway from the skin to the cerebral cortex. Further processing in the somatosensory area of the cerebral cortex and in the adjacent association areas of the cortex leads to final elaboration of sensation, where perception is assumed to occur.

The groundwork of knowledge, as of other sensory systems, was laid in experiments on anaesthetized or conscious animals, in which very precise studies of morphology, physiology, and behaviour could be made. This knowledge has recently been extended in a dramatic way, by electrophysiological and correlated psychophysical studies, to conscious human subjects, with a remarkable degree of concordance with the animal studies.

1. Cutaneous sensory tactile receptors
2. Receptive fields
3. Central processing
4. Central control of sensation
5. Recent studies in man
6. Relation to other skin senses
7. Haptic touch

1. Cutaneous sensory tactile receptors

The skin contains several kinds of encapsulated mechanoreceptors (tactile receptors) innervated by myelinated dorsal root nerve fibres, and each kind is specialized to detect particular parameters of a mechanical stimulus. The Pacinian corpuscle, the first cutaneous receptor to be discovered, is relatively large, up to 2 mm long and 1 mm in diameter, and is present in the deeper layers of both hairy and hairless (glabrous) skin. It is pearl shaped and comprises a lamellated structure, with an outer capsule, outer lamellae, inner lamellae, and in its core the specialized rodlike nerve terminal. The corpuscle is adapted to respond to vibration, with maximal sensitivity at 20–300 Hz and a range (bandwidth) of 20–1,500 Hz. It is capable of detecting movements smaller than a micrometre (about one-twenty-fifth of one-thousandth of an inch). The lamellae are high-pass filters that prevent steadily maintained pressure from penetrating to the nerve terminal in the core, but allow rapidly changing pressures to do so, so that vibrations can be detected, even in the presence of maintained pressure.

Meissner's corpuscles are encapsulated and present in the glabrous skin of primates, including man. They lie in rows just below the epidermis, in dermal papillae. The papillae correspond to the familiar surface ridges of the fingers and toes that form each individual's distinctive fingerprint. Meissner's corpuscles are innervated by myelinated axons and, like Pacinian corpuscles, also detect vibration, but at lower frequencies and with lesser sensitivity. Their maximal sensitivity is at 2–40 Hz and their frequency range from about 1 to 400 Hz. The corresponding receptors in non-primates are the Krause end bulbs, which also detect changing stimuli.

In hairy skin, the hair follicles are innervated by myelinated fibres that have terminals arranged in a palisade round the hair shaft. They too respond to changing stimuli, and can be subdivided into at least three subcategories, with different bandwidths for maximal sensitivity to hair movement and different thresholds of movement sensitivity. All these kinds of mechanoreceptors have one feature in common — they do not respond to a steadily maintained displacement of the skin, and thus are incapable of detecting steady pressure. On the other hand, they can encode with great precision the magnitude and wavelength of vibratory stimuli of different frequencies, covering a range from less than 1 Hz to greater than 1,500 Hz.

Static or steadily maintained mechanical stimuli are detected by two other specialized cutaneous receptors. The first and more numerous are the Merkel cells, which occur in small clusters in the lower margin of the epidermis. In hairy skin these clusters are scattered, each innervated by a single myelinated axon, and form Iggo-Pinkus domes visible at the skin surface, especially after depilation of the skin. The receptors form Sa I mechanoreceptors that can sustain a discharge during static deformation, as well as during superimposed vibrations. The mechanical thresholds in hairy skin are about 1 μm, and the receptors can fire at rates higher than 1,000 a second when the skin is stroked. The Sa I receptors are also present in glabrous skin, the Merkel cells there lying in the so-called rete pegs of the epidermis.

The other slowly adapting receptor, the Sa II, has the Ruffini ending as its receptor. This is present in the dermis. They are spindle shaped, up to 2 mm long, with a distinct capsule, and a densely branched nerve ending in the central core of the receptor. These receptors are structurally similar to the Golgi tendon organs, and have the similar property of responding with a sustained discharge to maintained displacement of the skin. The mechanical sensitivity of the Sa II receptors is less than that of the Sa I.

2. Receptive fields

Each of these receptors occupies a small region of skin, from about 10 to 300 μm in diameter for the Sa I and Meissner's corpuscles in the fingertip, to several centimetres for hair follicle receptors in the arm and trunk skin. These small spots are the fields from which a discharge of impulses can be evoked by an appropriate stimulus. The sizes of individual receptive fields and the density of innervation (the number of receptive fields per unit area) are important factors in determining the location of a stimulus and, for two-point discrimination, the ability to distinguish two stimuli applied simultaneously.

3. Central processing

This array of mechanoreceptors provides the central nervous system with a great deal of information about the characteristics of mechanical stimuli (intensity, duration, bandwidth, location) that is further processed at spinal, brain-stem, and thalamic levels before it reaches the cerebral cortex.Direct pathwaysThe most direct routes go via the dorsal columns of the spinal cord to the lower end of the brain stem, where the ascending branches of the incoming sensory nerve fibres make synaptic connections with neurons that in turn send axons to the ventrobasal thalamus. Thalamic neurons in their turn send their axons to the somatosensory region of the cerebral cortex. An important feature of this direct system is that it can preserve, to an astonishing degree, the information encoded by the cutaneous receptors — the system has the property of specificity. Individual neurons of the somatosensory cerebral cortex may have characteristics analogous to the different kinds of primary cutaneous sensory receptors, in terms of their responses to mechanical stimuli, encoding parameters such as amplitude, static/dynamic aspects, and frequency response range. This processing is further supplemented by additional properties, such as feature extraction, e.g. location of stimulated skin and direction of a moving object.Indirect pathwaysThere are several other sensory pathways in addition to those via the dorsal column, medial lemniscus system. These others are more elaborate, since additional neurons are present in them, and may also be non-specific, because an admixture of inputs from different touch receptors, as well as from thermoreceptors and nociceptors, can interact. The ascending information in these pathways (such as the spinothalamic tract) may have lost, to varying degrees, some of the spatial and specific attributes of the dorsal column system. Their role in touch is still open to question, but they provide sensory pathways in parallel with the direct dorsal column routes.

4. Central control of sensation

A further important feature of tactile sensation, also present in other senses, is that not all the stimuli delivered to the skin surface necessarily cause excitation in the somatosensory cortex and an associated sensory awareness. There are very potent control systems, usually originating in the brain, that can modify the transmission of excitation from the skin on its way to the cerebral cortex. This is achieved through descending inhibition that interacts on neurons, at several levels in the sensory pathway, with the incoming excitatory information. This inhibition can totally or partially prevent the onflow of information, and may be used to enhance contrast between a stimulated area and adjacent regions, or to admit only certain inputs to higher levels. In this latter context it is analogous to attention — a familiar capacity to attend to certain stimuli and disregard others. These interactions are based on excitatory and inhibitory synapses playing against each other on individual neurons and, therefore, are accessible to pharmacological manipulation, although this has been little exploited in relation to cutaneous touch.

5. Recent studies in man

In the past there was considerable controversy about the cutaneous sensory mechanisms, including the existence and function of cutaneous receptors. Although experimental evidence from animal studies leads to the conclusion that the general rules of specificity operate, it has only recently become possible to provide direct evidence from studies on conscious man. When a thin insulated tungsten wire electrode is inserted through the human skin and into a peripheral nerve it can, by suitable adjustment, be used to record the impulses in a single axon coming from a cutaneous mechanoreceptor. This technique has been applied most rigorously to analyse cutaneous receptors in the hand, by recording from the median nerve and its branches in the arm and hand. Four principal kinds of mechanoreceptor, with myelinated axons, exist in human glabrous skin, corresponding to: Pacinian corpuscles, Meissner's corpuscles, SA I (Merkel receptors), and Sa II (Ruffini endings). The general characteristics of the receptors closely match those already well known from animal studies, The sensory function of the receptors was assessed by comparing the subject's report of his sensations with the responses of individual afferent fibres recorded at the same time. Criticism of this approach has been directed at the likelihood that a mechanical stimulus, even though controlled with great precision, could excite other receptors in addition to the one recorded from electrically, so that a one-to-one correspondence of sensation and unit receptor activity would be difficult to assert. In a refinement of the technique, electrical stimulation through the recording electrode was used as a means of precise excitation of a single, functionally identified, sensory axon. The exciting, and fundamentally important, result of this approach has been to establish, in a quite convincing way, that the different kinds of receptor can indeed cause perceptually distinct sensation. Thus, the Pacinian corpuscle receptors caused a sense of tickling or vibration when stimulated at frequencies above 2–50 Hz, with a sensation of vibration related to the actual frequency of stimulation. Meissner corpuscles (FA I) evoked a sense of tapping, flutter, buzzing, or vibration (related to the frequency of stimulation) that did not change its sensory quality if the stimulation continued for several seconds. SA I (Merkel receptor) units did not evoke a sensation if only two or three electrically induced impulses were evoked at frequencies of <10 Hz. For larger numbers of impulses at higher frequencies they evoked a sense of sustained pressure or sustained contact, lacking either the vibratory or tapping quality evoked from the Pacinian and Meissner units. In contrast, activity in Sa II units did not give rise to any sensation, and so may be more concerned with muscle reflexes and proprioception which are not in consciousness.

These results brilliantly confirm the suggestions coming from the correlative studies in man and make possible the restatement of now ancient law of specific nerve energies. As originally stated, this asserted that excitation of a sense organ, by whatever means, always gave rise to the same modality of sensation, whether — in the case of, say, vision — the stimulus was the normal one of light acting on the retina or was an abnormal one, such as pressure on the eyeball. In late 19th-century elaborations, the law came to be restated as asserting that every kind of sensation required its own kind of nerve fibre, and that each kind of nerve fibre with its end organ had a 'specific energy', giving rise to a certain definite sensation and no other. The experimental results cited above give credence to Muller's original proposal, namely that a given kind of receptor or its nerve fibre, when excited by whatever means, gives rise to a certain sensation. The sensation resulting from the simultaneous excitation of several kinds of receptor, such as mechanoreceptors and thermoreceptors, can, however, yield a sensation that arises from central interactions among the sensory inflow.

A further consequence of this new work is that the old controversy between 'specificity' and 'pattern' theories of cutaneous sensation has been resolved in favour of the 'specificity' theory.

7. Relation to other skin senses

This review of the 'tactile' sensory system has concentrated on the sensory receptors because it is in that area of knowledge that dramatic progress has been made in the last two decades, with the resolution of the long-standing controversy about the nature and role of the sensory receptors. Two other cutaneous sensory systems that coexist with the tactile system provide specific information about nociception (painful stimuli) and thermoreception (temperature sensation). Each is served by its own set of specific sensory receptors. The central processing of sensory information from these receptors is by the indirect route through the dorsal horn of the spinal cord. The three systems, tactile, nociceptive, and thermal, do however interact. A striking example is the reduction in pain that can, in appropriate conditions, be achieved by the concurrent application of a tactile stimulus and a noxious stimulus. A familiar instance is provided by the instinctive act of rubbing a sore place on the skin. Rubbing or stroking excites sensitive tactile receptors that interact on neurons in the spinal cord with an inflow from the nociceptors and block or reduce the excitatory action of the latter. TENS (transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation) is a method of pain relief, now in clinical use, that is based on this interaction.

Yet another new twist has been given to the cutaneous sensory mechanisms by the discovery of electroreception in monotremes. In this branch of mammals, and especially in the platypus, there is now proof that they can detect electrical fields in water, using electroreceptors in the skin of the bill. The precise mechanism awaits discovery.

7. Haptic touch

Touching by active exploration, especially with the fingers. It is in contrast with 'passive' touch, in which structures are signalled by patterns impressed on the skin. Haptic touch has the advantage that large objects (much larger than any region of skin) can be discerned and identified, but is seldom used, except in the dark, or by blind people, when it is extremely useful. It is essentially single-channel scanning in time, whereas passive touch uses simultaneous parallel neural channels. Since the sensitive nerve endings of the skin adapt with constant stimulation, movement and active touch are important for renewing their signals.

(Published 2004)

— Ainsley Iggo

Bibliography
• Belmonte, C., and Cervero, F. (eds) (1996). Neurobiology of Nocoception.
• Euler, C. von, Franzen, O., Lindblom, U., and Ottoson, D. (eds.) (1984). Somatosensory Mechanisms.
• Handwerker, H. O. H. (1984). 'Nerve fibre discharges and sensation'. Human Neurobiology, 3.
• Iggo, A. (1982). 'Cutaneous sensory mechanisms'. In Barlow, H. B., and Mollon, J. D. (eds.), The Senses.
• Proske, U., Gregory, J. E., and Iggo, A. (1998). 'Sensory receptors in monotremes'. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, Series B, 353.

---

1. the sense by which contact of an object with the skin is recognized.
2. palpation with the finger.
Touch is actually not a single sense, but several. There are separate nerves in the skin to register heat, cold, pressure, pain and touch. These thousands of nerves are distributed unevenly over the body, so that some areas are more responsive to cold, others to pain, and others to heat or pressure.
Each of these types of nerves has a different structure at the receiving end. A touch nerve has an elongated bulb-shaped end, and a nerve responsive to cold a squat bulb; the nerve that registers warmth has what looks like twisted threads, and the nerve for deep pressure has an egg-shaped end. Pain receptors have no protective sheath.

• t. receptors — see sense.

IN BRIEF: The sensation produced by pressure receptors in the skin. Also: A distinctive style.

At the touch of love everyone becomes a poet. — Plato (c.427-347 BC)

Common misspelling(s) of touch

• tourch

Dansk (Danish)
v. tr. - røre, berøre, såre, krænke
v. intr. - være i berøring med noget
n. - berøring, kontakt

idioms:

• a touch of    en anelse, vis lighed med
• at the touch of a button    ved et tryk på en knap
• in touch    have kontakt med
• keep in touch    hold kontakt ved lige
• not touch with a barge pole    ikke røre med en ildtang
• not touch with a bargepole    ikke røre med en ildtang
• touch a nerve    røre et svagt punkt
• touch and go    risikabel, usikker, risikabel situation
• touch base    få kontakt
• touch bottom    nå bunden, få bundkontakt
• touch down    lande, foretage mellemlanding
• touch for something    have evne til noget
• touch off    beskrive på rammende måde
• touch on    omtale, berøre
• touch paper    salpeterpapir
• touch screen    pegeskærm, berøringsfølsom skærm
• touch typist    en der skriver blindskrift
• touch up    muntre, fikse op, pynte på
• touch upon    grænse til, ramme, nå
• touch wood    tønder (dvs. tændmateriale)

Nederlands (Dutch)
aanraken, beroeren, komen aan, weten los te krijgen, raken, ontroeren, zitten aan, aantikken, tast(zin), aanpak, aanraking, toetsaanslag

Français (French)
v. tr. - toucher, toucher à, (gén) toucher, bouleverser, affecter, concerner, agir sur, manger, prendre/boire, fumer, taper qch à qn (fam), égaler, atteindre (un prix)
v. intr. - toucher
n. - contact (physique), toucher, main, style, (gén) touche, note, pointe, un petit peu, contact, (Sport) touche

idioms:

• a touch    à toucher, un petit peu
• a touch of    une note de, une pointe de, quelque chose de, un peu
• at the touch of a button    simplement, facilement, au toucher
• in touch    (être) en contact, faire signe
• keep in touch    rester en contact
• not touch with a barge pole    pas y toucher avec des pincettes
• put the touch on    mettre la main sur
• to the touch    au toucher
• touch a nerve    toucher un point sensible
• touch and go    (courir) grand risque, (frôler) la mort, (revenir) de loin
• touch base    prendre/renouer contact
• touch bottom    toucher/atteindre le fond
• touch down    se poser, atterrir, (Sport) marquer un essai
• touch off    faire partir, (fig) déclencher
• touch on    aborder, effleurer
• touch paper    papier nitraté
• touch screen    (Comput) écran qui fonctionne au toucher
• touch someone for    taper (qch) à qn, égaler qn
• touch someone on the raw    toucher qn à l'endroit sensible
• touch typist    dactylo tapant au toucher
• touch up    retoucher (une photo), reteindre, peloter (fam)
• touch upon    aborder, effleurer
• touch wood    amadou

Deutsch (German)
n. - Berührung, Kontakt, Tastsinn, Anflug, Stil, Tastenanschlag, charakteristischer Zug, Strich, verfeinerndes Detail, Fangen (Kinderspiel), (Slang) Anpumpen, (Sport) Aus, Probe
v. - berühren, anfassen, anrühren, anschlagen, rühren, heranreichen an, treffen, schädigen, fertigwerden mit, (Slang) anpumpen, tönen, (ein wenig) beeinflussen, aneinanderstoßen, grenzen

idioms:

• a touch    ein [ganz] kleines bisschen
• a touch of    eine Spur von
• at the touch of a button    auf Knopfdruck
• in touch    in Verbindung, auf dem laufenden, sich bewußt
• keep in touch    in Verbindung od. Kontakt bleiben, sich über etw. auf dem Laufenden halten
• not touch with a barge pole    nicht einmal mit der Beißzange anfassen
• put the touch on    etw. (Dat) den letzten Schliff geben, die letzte Hand anlegen
• to the touch    (be ...) sich ...anfühlen
• touch a nerve    einen Nerv treffen
• touch and go    unsicher, auf Messers Schneide stehend, prekär
• touch base    in Verbindung treten
• touch bottom    Grund haben, den Tiefpunkt erreichen
• touch down    landen, aufsetzen, (Rugby) den Ball niederlegen, (Am. Football) den Ball hinter die Grundlinie bringen
• touch off    zünden, auslösen, genau darstellen
• touch on    streifen, grenzen an, ansprechen
• touch paper    Zündpapier, Papierlunte
• touch screen    Bildschirm, bei dessen Berührung mit dem finger Programmfunktionen augelöst werden
• touch someone for    jmdn. anpumpen (salopp)
• touch someone on the raw    (BrE) jmdn. an [s]einer verwundbaren Stelle treffen
• touch typist    jmd. der blind schreiben kann
• touch up    auffrischen
• touch upon    streifen, grenzen an, ansprechen
• touch wood    unberufen!, unberufen

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - άγγιγμα, επαφή, ψηλάφηση, αφή, υφή, ίχνος, υποψία, ελαφρά χροιά, σημάδι, μικρή δόση, πινελιά, μολυβιά, ελαφρό, χτύπημα, τόνος, τεχνοτροπία, "χέρι", επαφή, επικοινωνία
v. - αγγίζω, ψηλαφώ, θίγω, προσβάλλω, αφορώ, έχω σχέση, συγκινώ, (παθ. φωνή) πειράζομαι, βλάπτομαι, (ιδ. αρνητικά) συγκρίνομαι, παραβάλλομαι, εφάπτομαι, ακουμπώ

idioms:

• a touch of    λίγο, ένας τόνος
• at the touch of a button    με το (απλό) άγγιγμα ενός κουμπιού
• in touch    σε επαφή, σε επικοινωνία
• keep in touch    διατηρώ επαφή, βρίσκομαι σε διαρκή ενημέρωση
• not touch with a barge pole    δεν θέλω να έχω καμία σχέση με (κάποιον ή κάτι)
• not touch with a bargepole    δεν θέλω να έχω καμία σχέση με (κάποιον ή κάτι)
• touch a nerve    ακουμπώ μια ευαίσθητη χορδή
• touch and go    άκρως αβέβαιος ή επικίνδυνος
• touch base    πιάνω επαφή
• touch bottom    πιάνω πάτο, πατώνω
• touch down    προσεδαφίζομαι, προσγειώνομαι, (στο ράγκμπι) σκοράρω
• touch for something    ψέγω σε σχέση με, κάνω τράκα για
• touch off    πυροδοτώ, προκαλώ, αποτελώ έναυσμα
• touch on    άπτομαι του, αναφέρομαι ακροθιγώς σε
• touch paper    μυγόχαρτο
• touch screen    (Η/Υ) οθόνη επαφής
• touch typist    δακτυλογράφος που γνωρίζει τυφλό σύστημα
• touch up    ρετουσάρω, κάνω μικροδιορθώσεις, επισκευάζω
• touch upon    άπτομαι του, αναφέρομαι ακροθιγώς σε
• touch wood    χτύπα ξύλο

Italiano (Italian)
toccare, contatto, tatto, battuta

idioms:

• a touch of    un tocco di, un tantino di
• in touch    in contatto
• lose one's touch    perdere il tocco
• lose touch    perdere contatto
• soft/easy touch    preda facile
• the common touch    la parola facile
• touch and go    rischioso
• touch bottom    andare a picco
• touch down    atterrare
• touch for something    tocco per qualcosa
• touch off    abbozzare
• touch on/upon    toccare, affrontare
• touch paper    carta nitrata
• touch typist    dattilografo
• touch wood    tocca ferro

Português (Portuguese)
n. - toque (m), tato (m), apalpadela (f), modo de agir (m), ligação (f), sombra (f)
v. - tocar, estar em contato com, ferir

idioms:

• a touch of    um pouco de
• in touch    em contato com
• keep in touch    manter contato com
• lose one's touch    perder o jeito de
• lose touch    perder contato
• soft/easy touch    toque delicado
• the common touch    ter empatia com as pessoas comuns
• touch and go    arriscado, incerto, apressado
• touch bottom    situação deplorável, está de rastos
• touch down    aterrissar
• touch for something    talento para
• touch off    descarregar, disparar, desencadear
• touch on    mencionar, tocar
• touch on/upon    aproximar-se de
• touch paper    papel impregnado em nitrato de potássio
• touch typist    datilógrafo
• touch up    retocar, corrigir
• touch wood    isolar

Русский (Russian)
трогать, прикасаться, соприкасаться, затрагивать (тему), прикосновение, осязание, ощупь (мед.) ощупывание, мазок (о живописи), штрих, деталь, художественная манера, туше, хватка, связь, контакт, (спорт.) боковая линия площадки, растрогать (чувства), одолжить деньги

idioms:

• a touch of    чуть-чуть (малая доля чего-л.), чуточка
• in touch    связаться (по телефону) с кем-л.
• keep in touch    поддерживать контакт с кем-л.
• lose one's touch    утратить(былую) способность
• lose touch    потерять контакт с кем-л.
• soft/easy touch    легко получить от него деньги
• the common touch    найти общий язык (с кем-л.), легко сближаться с народом
• touch and go    почти не успеть
• touch bottom    ниже не мог упасть
• touch down    (ав.) сделать посадку, (регби) гол
• touch for something    попросить взаймы
• touch off    вызвать (быть непосредственной причиной чего-л.)
• touch on    коснуться (вопроса/проблемы)
• touch on/upon    затрагивать (вопрос/тему)
• touch paper    медленно горящая бумага
• touch typist    машинистка
• touch up    ретушировать, ретушь
• touch wood    "не сглазить бы!"

Español (Spanish)
v. tr. - tocar, rozar, alcanzar, llegar a, pulsar, conmover, enternecer, afectar, herir, hacer mella, adivinar, igualar, poderse comparar con, delinear, esbozar, teñir, colorear ligeramente
v. intr. - tocar, tocarse, estar contiguo, imponer las manos para curar
n. - toque, roce, contacto, tacto, sello, estilo, pizca, nota

idioms:

• a touch    una pizca de, cierta, un toque
• a touch of    una pizca de, cierta
• at the touch of a button    al oprimir el botón
• in touch    en contacto, al tanto, al corriente
• keep in touch    mantenerse comunicado
• not touch with a barge pole    no lo cogería ni con pinzas, no quiero saber nada de eso, no lo quiero ni regalado
• put the touch on    dar un sablazo, intentar pedir dinero prestado
• to the touch    al ser tocado
• touch a nerve    ofender en forma involuntaria, poner el dedo en la llaga
• touch and go    arriesgado, aventurado
• touch base    establecer contacto
• touch bottom    tocar el fondo, hacer pie, llegar hasta lo más profundo
• touch down    aterrizar, tocar tierra, hacer un ensayo, marcar tantos en un ensayo (rugby)
• touch off    provocar, desencadenar, descargar
• touch on    tratar superficialmente, aludir brevemente
• touch paper    mecha
• touch screen    pantalla de monitor de computación que permite al usuario operar la computadora al colocar su mano sobre ella
• touch someone for    dar un sablazo, lograr un préstamo
• touch someone on the raw    herir en lo vivo, poner el dedo en la llaga
• touch typist    mecanógrafo
• touch up    retocar
• touch upon    tratar superficialmente, aludir brevemente
• touch wood    tocar madera

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - beröring, vidröring, kontakt, (penn)drag, detalj, touche, prägel, anstrykning, grepp, handlag, urskillning, känsla
v. - röra, beröra, vidröra, toucha

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
接触, 触及, 触摸, 涉及, 接近, 触, 触觉

idioms:

• a touch of    有一点
• at the touch of a button    一触按键就显现出来, 表示极为方便
• in touch    联系, 接触, 发挥特长或才能
• keep in touch    保持联络
• not touch with a barge pole    不牵涉, 不发生关系
• not touch with a bargepole    不发生关系, 毫无关联
• touch a nerve    触及一个敏感的话题, 触及伤心敏感的话题
• touch and go    一触即发, 草率而做的事
• touch base    逗留, 联系, 处理细节问题
• touch bottom    达到最低点, 核实
• touch down    底线得分, 降落
• touch for something    用不正当手段骗取..., 偷窃...
• touch off    引起, 触发
• touch on    略微谈到
• touch paper    硝纸, 导火纸
• touch screen    触摸式屏幕
• touch typist    按指法打字的人
• touch up    润色, 引起
• touch upon    涉及, 提到
• touch wood    火绒, 捉迷藏的一种

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
v. tr. - 接觸, 觸及, 觸摸
v. intr. - 觸摸, 涉及, 接近
n. - 觸, 接觸, 觸覺

idioms:

• a touch of    有一點
• at the touch of a button    一觸按鍵就顯現出來, 表示極為方便
• in touch    聯繫, 接觸, 發揮特長或才能
• keep in touch    保持聯絡
• not touch with a barge pole    不牽涉, 不發生關係
• not touch with a bargepole    不發生關係, 毫無關聯
• touch a nerve    觸及一個敏感的話題, 觸及傷心敏感的話題
• touch and go    一觸即發, 草率而做的事
• touch base    逗留, 聯繫, 處理細節問題
• touch bottom    達到最低點, 核實
• touch down    底線得分, 降落
• touch for something    用不正當手段騙取..., 偷竊...
• touch off    引起, 觸發
• touch on    略微談到
• touch paper    硝紙, 導火紙
• touch screen    觸摸式螢幕
• touch typist    按指法打字的人
• touch up    潤色, 引起
• touch upon    涉及, 提到
• touch wood    火絨, 捉迷藏的一種

한국어 (Korean)
v. tr. - 대다, 연주하다, 손을 대다
v. intr. - 접촉하다, 손을 대다, 접근하다
n. - 접촉 , 촉진, 필치

idioms:

• a touch of    ~ 기운, ~ 기
• at the touch of a button    ~의 실마리가 되는
• in touch    측선 밖에, 경기를 하지 않고
• keep in touch    연락을 지속하다, 뒤떨어지지 않다
• touch down    착지하다
• touch off    발사하다, 유발하다, 이기다
• touch on    간단히 언급하다, 암시하다
• touch up    조금 고치다, (기억을) 불러 일으키다
• touch upon    암시하다, 간략히 언급하다

日本語 (Japanese)
v. - 触れる, 触れさせる, 軽く押す, 軽く打つ, 感情を害する, 感動させる, 手をつける, 害する, 傷付ける, 言及する, 関係する, 影響する, 匹敵する, 寄港する, 立ち寄る, 達する, 加筆する, 修正する
n. - 触れること, 接触, 触覚, 演奏ぶり, 筆致, 一筆, 修正, 手ごたえ, 気味, 触診, 交渉

idioms:

• a touch of    僅かな
• at the touch of a button    たやすく
• finishing touch    最後の仕上げ
• in touch    接触して, 事情に通じて
• not touch with a barge pole    離れていろ
• not touch with a bargepole    離れていろ
• out of touch    接触を失って, 事情に疎くなって
• soft/easy touch    説得しやすい相手, くみしやすい相手
• touch a raw nerve    逆鱗に触れる, 神経を逆なでする
• touch and go    際どい状態
• touch base    連絡をとる, 協議する
• touch bottom    底に届く, 最低になる
• touch down    タッチダウンする, 着陸する
• touch for something    ～の才能がある
• touch off    発射する, 爆発させる, 始めさせる, 誘発する
• touch on    簡単に触れる, …に関係する
• touch on the raw    弱点をつく
• touch on/upon    簡単に触れる, …に関係する
• touch paper    導火紙
• touch typist    ブラインドタッチでタイプする人
• touch up    修正する
• touch wood    付け木, グッドラック!

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) طرف, أثر, ملمس (فعل) يضرب أو يعتدي على, يحس, يلمس‏

עברית (Hebrew)
v. tr. - ‮נגע, מישש, הגיע ל-, הקיש קלות, לחץ קלות, השתווה אל, עסק ב-, דן ב-, נגע ללב, קילקל, פגע ב-, העביר מכחול, השיק ל-‬
v. intr. - ‮נגע, בא במגע עם‬
n. - ‮מגע, נגיעה, מישוש, חוש המישוש, התקף קל, מכה קלה, שיפוץ, קורטוב, נימה, סגנון, העברת מכחול, כמות קטנה, אופן נגינה, מיומנות‬

If you are unable to view some languages clearly, click here.

To select your translation preferences click here.

in touch	t touch
touch	Hi-touch Printers