tout

To tout is to try to sell something or to try to convince people of something.

(verb)

When a salesman shows off his goods and tries to sell them, this is an example of a salesman who touts his goods.
An example of tout is when you try to convince everyone to come around to a specific idea you have.

See tout in Webster's New World College Dictionary

intransitive verb

to solicit customers, patrons, votes, etc.
1. esp. in England, to spy on racehorses in training, etc. in order to secure tips for betting
2. to provide betting tips on horse races

Origin: ME toten < OE totian, to peep, look out after

transitive verb

to praise or recommend highly; puff
to solicit or importune, as for business
1. to spy out or otherwise get information on (racehorses)
2. ☆ to give a tip on (a racehorse) for a price

noun

Informal a person who touts; esp., a person who makes a business of selling tips on racehorses

Related Forms:

noun

everyone who is important or fashionable in (a specified metropolis): tout Hollywood was at the party

Origin: Fr, lit., all

See tout in American Heritage Dictionary 4

verb tout·ed, tout·ing, touts

verb, intransitive

verb, transitive

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).

noun

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.

Origin:

Origin: Middle English tuten, to peer

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