tout

American  

[tout] / taʊt /

verb (used without object)

1. to persistently solicit business, employment, votes, or the like.

2. Horse Racing. to act as a tout.

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verb (used with object)

1. to persistently solicit support for.

2. to describe or advertise boastfully; publicize or promote; praise extravagantly.

   a highly touted nightclub.

3. Horse Racing.

   1. to provide information on (a horse) running in a particular race, especially for a fee.

   2. to spy on (a horse in training) in order to gain information for the purpose of betting.

4. to watch; spy on.

noun

1. a person who persistently solicits business, employment, support, or the like.

2. Horse Racing.

   1. a person who gives information on a horse, especially for a fee.

   2. Chiefly British. a person who spies on a horse in training for the purpose of betting.

3. British. a ticket scalper.

tout British  

/ taʊt /

verb

1. to solicit (business, customers, etc) or hawk (merchandise), esp in a brazen way

2. (intr)

   1. to spy on racehorses being trained in order to obtain information for betting purposes

   2. to sell, or attempt to sell, such information or to take bets, esp in public places

3. informal (tr) to recommend flatteringly or excessively

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noun

1. 1. a person who spies on racehorses so as to obtain betting information to sell

   2. a person who sells information obtained by such spying

2. a person who solicits business in a brazen way

3. Also called: ticket tout.  a person who sells tickets unofficially for a heavily booked sporting event, concert, etc, at greatly inflated prices

4. a police informer

Other Word Forms

• touter noun

Etymology

Origin of tout

First recorded in 1350–1400; from Middle English tuten “to look out, peer”; probably akin to Old English tōtian “to peep out”

Related Words

• laud
• praise
• proclaim
• promote
• publicize
• trumpet