different between shill vs tout

English

Etymology

Unknown; attested as verb 1914, as noun 1916. Perhaps an abbreviation of shillaber, attested 1913. The word entered English via carny, originally denoting a carnival worker who pretends to be a member of the audience in an attempt to elicit interest in an attraction.

Speculatively an extended form of German Schieber (“black marketeer, profiteer”) via *shi-la-ber.

There are some suggestions that it originates in the surname Shilaber or Shillibeer, especially George Shillibeer, but proposed origins are dubious as the word is first attested in North America in the 20th century, while proposed models are 19th century British.

American humorist Benjamin Penhallow Shillaber (1814–1890) was known to write under the name Mrs. Ruth Partington to lend credibility to some of his ideas. This is one more possible origin of the word, although there is no specific evidence supporting a connection.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??l/
• Rhymes: -?l

Noun

shill (plural shills)

1. A person paid to endorse a product favourably, while pretending to be impartial.
   • 1983, Robert Anton Wilson, Prometheus Rising,

     Witnesses have testified that Jim Jones (like a few other professional faith-healers) used shills part of the time....

2. An accomplice at a confidence trick during an auction or gambling game.
   • 1994, Cormac McCarthy, The Crossing,

     The pitchman swept his cane in a slow acceleration over the heads of the crowd and then suddenly pointed the silver cap toward Billy and the shill.

3. (gambling) A house player in a casino.

Synonyms

• shillaber

Translations

Verb

shill (third-person singular simple present shills, present participle shilling, simple past and past participle shilled)

1. (derogatory) To promote or endorse in return for payment, especially dishonestly.
   • 1996, Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World,

     Today there are even commercials in which real scientists, some of considerable distinction, shill for corporations. They teach that scientists too will lie for money. As Tom Paine warned, inuring us to lies lays the groundwork for many other evils.

2. To put under cover; to sheal.
3. (Britain, obsolete, dialect) To shell.

Related terms

• sheep-dip

Translations

References

Anagrams

• Hills, hills

English

Etymology 1

From a dialectal form of toot (“to stick out; project; peer out; peep”), itself from Middle English toten, totien, from Old English t?tian (“to peep out; look; pry; spectate”). Merged with Middle English touten (“to jut out, protrude, gaze upon, observe, peer”), from Old English *t?tian, related to Old English t?tan (“to stand out, be conspicuous, shine”). Compare Icelandic túta (“a teat-like prominence”), tútna (“to be blown up”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ta?t/
• (Canada) IPA^(key): /t??t/
• Rhymes: -a?t

Noun

tout (plural touts)

1. Someone advertising for customers in an aggressive way.
   • 1886, Henry James, The Princess Casamassima.

     Paul Muniment looked at his young friend a moment. 'Do you want to know what he is? He's a tout.'

     'A tout? What do you mean?'

     'Well, a cat's-paw, if you like better.'

     Hyacinth stared. 'For whom, pray?'

     'Or a fisherman, if you like better still. I give you your choice of comparisons. I made them up as we came along in the hansom. He throws his nets and hauls in the little fishes—the pretty little shining, wriggling fishes. They are all for her; she swallows, 'em down.'

2. A person, at a racecourse, who offers supposedly inside information on which horse is likely to win.
3. (colloquial, archaic) A spy for a smuggler, thief, or similar.
4. (colloquial) An informer in the Irish Republican Army.

Synonyms

• (one advertising aggressively for customers): barker, pitchman, spruiker

Derived terms

• ticket tout

Translations

Verb

tout (third-person singular simple present touts, present participle touting, simple past and past participle touted)

1. (transitive) To flaunt, to publicize/publicise; to boast or brag; to promote.
   • 2016 January 25, "Why Arabs would regret a toothless Chinese dragon," The National (retrieved 25 January 2016):

     China has touted its policy of non-interference for decades.

   • 2012, Scott Tobias, The Hunger Games, The A.V. Club

     For the 75 years since a district rebellion was put down, The Games have existed as an assertion of the Capital’s power, a winner-take-all contest that touts heroism and sacrifice—participants are called “tributes”— while pitting the districts against each other.
2. (obsolete) To look upon or watch.
   • 1600, Edward Fairfax, The Jerusalem Delivered of Tasso, X, lvi:

     Nor durst Orcanes view the Soldan's face, / But still upon the floor did pore and tout.

3. (Britain, slang, horse-racing, transitive) To spy out information about (a horse, a racing stable, etc.).
4. (US, slang, horse-racing, transitive) To give a tip on (a racehorse) to a person, with the expectation of sharing in any winnings.
5. (Britain, slang, horse-racing, intransitive) To spy out the movements of racehorses at their trials, or to get by stealth or other improper means the secrets of the stable, for betting purposes.
6. (US, slang, horse-racing, intransitive) To act as a tout; to give a tip on a racehorse.
7. (intransitive) To look for, try to obtain; used with for.
   • March 1, 2016, Ben Judah on BBC Business Daily:

     To understand the new London, I lived it. I slept rough with Roma beggars and touted for work with Baltic laborers on the kerb.

Synonyms

• pimp
• pitch
• promote
• spruik

Translations

Etymology 2

Probably from French tout (“all”).

Noun

tout

1. (card games) In the game of solo, a proposal to win all eight tricks.

See also

• tout court

French

Etymology

From Middle French tout, from Old French tot, from Latin t?tus (via regional Vulgar Latin tottus with emphatic-expressive gemination); compare Catalan tot, Italian tutto, Portuguese todo, Romanian tot, Spanish todo.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tu/

Noun

tout m (plural touts)

1. whole, entirety, total

Adjective

tout (feminine singular toute, masculine plural tous, feminine plural toutes)

1. all

Pronoun

tout ? (plural tous)

1. everything

Derived terms

Adverb

tout

1. all

Further reading

• “tout” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Haitian Creole

Etymology

From French tout (“all”).

Adjective

tout

1. all

Adverb

tout

1. all
2. every

Middle French

Etymology

From Old French tot.

Adjective

tout m (feminine singular toute, masculine plural tous, feminine plural toutes)

1. all; all of

Adverb

tout (feminine singular toute, masculine plural tous, feminine plural toutes)

1. all (intensifier)
2. completely; totally; entirely

Usage notes

• Like Modern French tout, when used as an intensifier it may inflect according to the gender and the number of what it is describing:

• The uninflected form tout is always used for describing terms that don't inflect with gender, such as verbs, adverbs and prepositions:

  (tout qualifies the preposition autour)

Descendants

• French: tout

Norman

Etymology

From Old French tot, from Latin t?tus.

Pronunciation

Adjective

tout m

1. (Jersey, Guernsey) all

Derived terms

Adverb

tout

1. (Jersey, Guernsey) all

Scots

Verb

tout

1. (intransitive) To pout.

Noun

tout (plural touts)

1. A fit of sulking; a pet.
2. A sudden illness.

Derived terms

• toutie