17[?]. [Ashton, Queen Anne, II. 173.] You'll at least keep Six Horses, Sir Toby, for I wou'd not make a Tour in Hyde Park with less for the World; for me thinks a pair looks like a Hackney.
See Towre.
The Grand Tour, subs. phr. (old colloquial).—In 18th and early 19th centuries a continental tour embracing France, Switzerland, Italy, and Germany: regarded as an essential finish to the education of young men of rank.
Tousle (or Towsle), verb, (colloquial).—To rumple; to pull (or mess) about (q.v.); to ransack; freq. with 'mousle.' Whence (venery) = to master a woman by romping. Also tousy = rough, dishevelled, unkempt. [Cf. touse.]
1370. Thornton Rom. [Camden Soc.J, 230. [Oliphant, New Eng. i. 81. The l is added, for the verb tuse becomes tousel (Scott's towzel).]
1530. Tyndale, Works, ii. 151. He towseth and mowseth.
1695. Congreve, Love for Love, iii. 10. He'll touzle her and mouzle her. The rogue's sharp set . . . what if he should . . . fall to without the help of a parson, ha?
1763. Foote, Mayor of Garratt, i. 1. You slut, how you've tousled the curls.
1791. Burns, Tam o' Shanter. A towzie tyke, black, grim and large.
1791. Old Song, 'My Jockey is a Bonny Lad.' And then he fa's a kissing, clasping, hugging, squeezing, tousling, pressing, winna let me be.
1816. Scott, Old Mortality, xiv. She loot Tam tousle her tap-knots. Ibid. (1816), Antiquary, ix. After they had touzled many a leather pokeful of papers.
1852. Stowe, Uncle Toms Cabin, ix. A very heavy mat of sandy hair, in a decidedly tousled condition.
1887. Field, 27 Mar. A large tousey dog that can kill singly a fox or badger.
Tout, subs. (Old Cant).—The posteriors; the backside (q.v.), the BUM (q.v.).
1383. Chaucer, Canterbury Tales, 3810, 'Miller's Tale.' The hote culter brenned so his toute. Ibid. Thus swived was the carpentere's wif . . . And Absolon hath kist hire nether eye; And Nicholas is scalded in the toute.
[?]. MS. Ashmole., 61, f. 60. Rubyng of ther toute.
1882. Payne, Thousand Nights, etc., 'Porter of the Three Ladies of Baghdad.' Thy caze, thy tout, thy catso, thy coney.
Verb. (Old Cant).—'To look out sharp, to be on one's guard' (B. E.): also to keep tout: see Nark. Hence (Halliwell) = to follow; and (modern) = to canvass for custom as do hotel, coach, or steamer servants, to solicit employment as does a guide, or (racing: see Tip) to spy out special information concerning horses in training. A strong tout = strict observation, close watching (Vaux). As subs. = (1) a hotel, coach, or steamer runner, (2) a spy for thief or smuggler, (3) a racing agent or 'horse-watcher' (Grose). Also touting-ken = a tavern-bar (B. E. and Grose).
c. 1696. B. E., Diet. Cant. Crew, s.v. Tout. Who touts? c. who looks out sharp? Tout the Culls, c. Eye those Folks which way they take.
1718. C. Higden, True Disc, 13. He is a pushing toute, alias thieves' watchman, that lies scouting in and about the City to get and bring intelligence to the thieves, when and where there is a Push, alias an Accidental Crowd of People.
d. 1761. Richardson, Corresp., in. 316. A parcel of fellows, mean traders whom they call touters, and their business touting—riding out miles to meet carriages and company coming hither, to beg their custom while here.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Tout. A look-out house, or eminence. Ibid., Touter . . . Men, who, on the sly, obtain the speed and capabilities of race-horses during their training, and give
