Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To promote or praise energetically; publicize.
  • intransitive verb To solicit or importune.
  • intransitive verb Chiefly British To obtain or sell information on (a racehorse or stable) for the guidance of bettors.
  • intransitive verb To solicit customers, votes, or patronage, especially in a brazen way.
  • intransitive verb Chiefly British To obtain and deal in information on racehorses.
  • noun One who solicits customers brazenly or persistently.
  • noun Chiefly British One who obtains information on racehorses and their prospects and sells it to bettors.
  • noun Chiefly Scots and Irish Slang One who informs against others; an informer.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The buttocks; the backside; the fundament.
  • To pout; be seized with a sudden fit of ill humor.
  • To look about; spy; specifically, in modern racing slang, to spy out the movements of race-horses at training.
  • To look about for customers; solicit custom, employment, or the like.
  • To follow.
  • noun A pet; a huff; a fit of ill humor.
  • noun A fit or slight attack of illness.
  • noun Same as touter.
  • noun In horse-racing, a person who clandestinely watches the trials of race-horses at their training quarters and for a fee gives information for betting purposes.
  • noun In the game of solo, a play when one person takes or proposes to take all the tricks. Also touter.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • intransitive verb Cant. Eng. To act as a tout. See 2d tout.
  • intransitive verb Prov. Eng. To ply or seek for customers.
  • noun In the game of solo, a proposal to win all eight tricks.
  • intransitive verb To toot a horn.
  • intransitive verb Scot. & Dial. Eng. To look narrowly; spy.
  • intransitive verb Cant, Eng., Cant, U. S., Cant, U. S. To spy out the movements of race horses at their trials, or to get by stealth or other improper means the secrets of the stable, for betting purposes.
  • intransitive verb Cant, U. S. To act as a tout; to tout, or give a tip on, a race horse.
  • noun Cant. Eng. One who secretly watches race horses which are in course of training, to get information about their capabilities, for use in betting.
  • noun Cant, U. S. One who gives a tip on a race horses for an expected compensation, esp. in hopes of a share in any winnings; -- usually contemptuous.
  • noun colloq. One who solicits custom, as a runner for a hotel, cab, gambling place.
  • noun colloq. A spy for a smuggler, thief, or the like.
  • noun obsolete The anus.
  • transitive verb Cant, Eng., Cant, U. S., Cant, U. S. To spy out information about, as a racing stable or horse.
  • transitive verb Cant, U. S. To give a tip on (a race horse) to a better with the expectation of sharing in the latter's winnings.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Someone advertising for customers in an aggressive way.
  • noun A person, at a racecourse, who offers supposedly inside information on which horse is likely to win
  • verb transitive To flaunt, to publicize/publicise; to boast or brag; to promote.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun someone who advertises for customers in an especially brazen way
  • noun one who sells advice about gambling or speculation (especially at the racetrack)
  • verb advertize in strongly positive terms
  • verb show off
  • noun someone who buys tickets to an event in order to resell them at a profit

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Early Modern English, to be on the lookout for (customers, information, etc.), from Middle English tuten, to peer; akin to Old English tōtian, to protrude, peep out.]

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Examples

Comments

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  • (n): One who solicits customers brazenly or persistently.

    March 6, 2009

  • Mmmm, brazed customers.

    March 6, 2009