atiptoe

[ uh-tip-toh ]

adverb

1. standing or walking on tiptoe (usually used predicatively).
2. eagerly expectant, as anticipating a desired event or arrival:

   waiting atiptoe for the mail.

3. moving with caution or stealth, as avoiding calling attention to one's presence:

   She walked atiptoe through the sleeping house.

Word History and Origins

Origin of atiptoe¹

First recorded in 1570–80; a- ¹ + tiptoe

Example Sentences

Despatches told that she stirred in her sleep, wakened for an instant and looked sleepy-eyed at the smiling man in thin-rimmed glasses, white stiff collar, and impeccable frock coat who stood, still atiptoe, beside her crib.

From Time Magazine Archive

Eros, who in Arcady seemed atiptoe, so delicately did he tread upon the tender places of the soul, acquired, behind the mask of Cupid, a maliciousness that was simian.

From Project Gutenberg

Was it any wonder she Stood atiptoe tremblingly?

From Project Gutenberg

Grimly he suffered till such time he heard Helen's light foot and faint and gray in the mist Descried her slim veiled outline, saw her twist And slip between the sleepers on the ground, Atiptoe coming, swift, with scarce a sound, Not faltering in fear.

From Project Gutenberg

It went about like a mother who has found her child asleep at play, and who steals away atiptoe, finger on lip, lips smiling tenderly.

From Project Gutenberg