different between touch vs pinch

English

Etymology

From Middle English touchen, tochen, from Old French tochier (“to touch”) (whence Modern French toucher; compare French doublet toquer (“to offend, bother, harass”)), from Vulgar Latin *tucc? (“to knock, strike, offend”), from Frankish *tukk?n (“to knock, strike, touch”), from Proto-Germanic *tukk?n? (“to tug, grab, grasp”), from Proto-Indo-European *dewk- (“to draw, pull, lead”). Displaced native Middle English rinen, from Old English hr?nan (“to touch, reach, strike”)" (whence Modern English rine); Middle English repen, from Old English hrepian.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /t?t??/, enPR: tûch
• Rhymes: -?t?

Verb

touch (third-person singular simple present touches, present participle touching, simple past and past participle touched)

1. Primarily physical senses.
   1. (transitive) To make physical contact with; to bring the hand, finger or other part of the body into contact with. [from 14th c.]

   2. (transitive) To come into (involuntary) contact with; to meet or intersect. [from 14th c.]

   3. (intransitive) To come into physical contact, or to be in physical contact. [from 14th c.]

   4. (intransitive) To make physical contact with a thing. [from 14th c.]

   5. (transitive) To physically disturb; to interfere with, molest, or attempt to harm through contact. [from 14th c.]

      • Let us make a covenant with thee, that thou wilt do us no hurt, as we have not touched thee.

   6. (transitive) To cause to be briefly in contact with something.

      He quickly touched his knee to the worn marble.

      The demonstrator nearly touched the rod on the ball.

      She touched her lips to the glass.

   7. (transitive) To physically affect in specific ways implied by context. [from 15th c.]

   8. (transitive) To consume, or otherwise use. [from 15th c.]
   9. (intransitive) Of a ship or its passengers: to land, to make a short stop (at). [from 16th c.]
      • 1851, Herman Melville, Moby-Dick:

        Now a certain grand merchant ship once touched at Rokovoko, and its commander — from all accounts, a very stately punctilious gentleman, at least for a sea captain — this commander was invited to the wedding feast of Queequeg's sister, a pretty young princess just turned of ten.

   10. (transitive, now historical) To lay hands on (someone suffering from scrofula) as a form of cure, as formerly practised by English and French monarchs. [from 17th c.]
       • 1971, Keith Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic, Folio Society (2012), page 189:

         But in fact the English kings of the seventeenth century usually began to touch form the day of their accession, without waiting for any such consecration.

   11. (transitive or reflexive) To sexually excite with the fingers; to finger or masturbate. [from 20th c.]

   12. (intransitive, obsolete) To fasten; to take effect; to make impression.
   13. (nautical) To bring (a sail) so close to the wind that its weather leech shakes.
   14. (intransitive, nautical) To be brought, as a sail, so close to the wind that its weather leech shakes.
   15. (nautical) To keep the ship as near (the wind) as possible.

2. Primarily non-physical senses.
   1. (transitive) To imbue or endow with a specific quality. [from 14th c.]

   2. (transitive, archaic) To deal with in speech or writing; to mention briefly, to allude to. [from 14th c.]
      • , I.2.4.vii:

        Next to sorrow still I may annex such accidents as procure fear; for besides those terrors which I have before touched, […] there is a superstitious fear […] which much trouble many of us.

   3. (intransitive) To deal with in speech or writing; briefly to speak or write (on or upon something). [from 14th c.]
      • 1886, Robert Louis Stevenson, Strange Case Of Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde

        "Well, but since we have touched upon this business, and for the last time I hope," continued the doctor, "there is one point I should like you to understand."

   4. (transitive) To concern, to have to do with. [14th-19th c.]
      • 1526, William Tyndale, trans. Bible, Acts V:

        Men of Israhell take hede to youreselves what ye entende to do as touchinge these men.

      • 1919, Saki, ‘The Penance’, The Toys of Peace, Penguin 2000 (Complete Short Stories), page 423:

        And now it seemed he was engaged in something which touched them closely, but must be hidden from their knowledge.

   5. (transitive) To affect emotionally; to bring about tender or painful feelings in. [from 14th c.]
      • 1603, William Shakespeare, Othello, Act IV, sc. 1:

        If you are so fond over her iniquity, give her patent

        to offend, for if it touch not you, it comes near

        nobody.

   6. (transitive, dated) To affect in a negative way, especially only slightly. [from 16th c.]

   7. (transitive, Scottish history) To give royal assent to by touching it with the sceptre. [from 17th c.]

   8. (transitive, slang) To obtain money from, usually by borrowing (from a friend). [from 18th c.]

   9. (transitive, always passive) To disturb the mental functions of; to make somewhat insane; often followed with "in the head". [from 18th c.]

   10. (transitive, in negative constructions) To be on the level of; to approach in excellence or quality. [from 19th c.]
       • 1928, Dorothy L. Sayers, "The Abominable History of the Man with Copper Fingers", in Lord Peter Views the Body,

         There was his mistress, Maria Morano. I don't think I've ever seen anything to touch her, and when you work for the screen [as I do] you're apt to have a pretty exacting standard of female beauty.
   11. (transitive) To come close to; to approach.
       • 2012, July 15. Richard Williams in Guardian Unlimited, Tour de France 2012: Carpet tacks cannot force Bradley Wiggins off track

         On Sunday afternoon it was as dark as night, with barely room for two riders abreast on a gradient that touches 20%.

   12. (transitive, computing) To mark (a file or document) as having been modified.
3. To try; to prove, as with a touchstone.
4. To mark or delineate with touches; to add a slight stroke to with the pencil or brush.
5. (obsolete) To infect; to affect slightly.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Francis Bacon to this entry?)

6. To strike; to manipulate; to play on.
7. To perform, as a tune; to play.
8. To influence by impulse; to impel forcibly.

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

touch (countable and uncountable, plural touches)

1. An act of touching, especially with the hand or finger.

   Suddenly, in the crowd, I felt a touch at my shoulder.

2. The faculty or sense of perception by physical contact.

   With the lights out, she had to rely on touch to find her desk.

3. The style or technique with which one plays a musical instrument.

   He performed one of Ravel's piano concertos with a wonderfully light and playful touch.

4. (music) The particular or characteristic mode of action, or the resistance of the keys of an instrument to the fingers.

   a heavy touch, or a light touch

5. A distinguishing feature or characteristic.

   Clever touches like this are what make her such a brilliant writer.

6. A little bit; a small amount.

   Move it left just a touch and it will be perfect.
7. The part of a sports field beyond the touchlines or goal-lines.

   He got the ball, and kicked it straight out into touch.

8. A relationship of close communication or understanding.

   He promised to keep in touch while he was away.

9. The ability to perform a task well; aptitude.

   I used to be a great chess player but I've lost my touch.
10. (obsolete) Act or power of exciting emotion.
11. (obsolete) An emotion or affection.
    • 1594, Richard Hooker, Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie

      a true, natural, and a sensible touch of mercy

12. (obsolete) Personal reference or application.
    • 1625, Francis Bacon, Of Discourse

      Speech of touch toward others should be sparingly used.

13. A single stroke on a drawing or a picture.
    • 1695, John Dryden, The Art of Painting

      Never give the least touch with your pencil till you have well examined your design.

14. (obsolete) A brief essay.
    • 1713, Jonathan Swift, A Preface to Bishop Burnet's Introduction

      Print my preface in such form as, in the booksellers' phrase, will make a sixpenny touch.

15. (obsolete) A touchstone; hence, stone of the sort used for touchstone.
    • a neat new monument of touch and alabaster

16. (obsolete) Examination or trial by some decisive standard; test; proof; tried quality.
    • 1602, Richard Carew, Survey of Cornwall

      equity, the true touch of all laws
17. (shipbuilding) The broadest part of a plank worked top and but, or of one worked anchor-stock fashion (that is, tapered from the middle to both ends); also, the angles of the stern timbers at the counters.

    (Can we find and add a quotation of J. Knowles to this entry?)

18. The children's game of tag.
19. (bell-ringing) A set of changes less than the total possible on seven bells, i.e. less than 5,040.
20. (slang) An act of borrowing or stealing something.
21. (Britain, plumbing, dated) Tallow.
22. Form; standard of performance.
    • 2019 In the mix: Who's pushing for selection for round seven? Australian Football League, 30 April 2019. Accessed 6 May 2019.

      Jackson Hately, Isaac Cumming and Nick Shipley have been in great touch in the NEAFL.

23. (Australian rules football) A disposal of the ball during a game, i.e. a kick or a handball.
    • 2019 In the mix: Who's pushing for selection for round seven? Australian Football League, 30 April 2019. Accessed 6 May 2019.

      With just six touches, small forward Daniel Rioli was uncharacteristically quiet against Melbourne, although he did lay five tackles.

Derived terms

Translations

References

• touch at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• chout, couth

Spanish

Adjective

touch (invariable)

1. touch; touch-screen

English

Etymology

From Middle English pinchen, from Old French *pinchier, pincer (“to pinch”), from Vulgar Latin *pinci?re (“to puncture, pinch”), from possible merger of *puncti?re (“a puncture, sting”), from Latin puncti? (“a puncture, prick”) and *picc?re (“to strike, sting”), from Frankish *pikk?n, from Proto-Germanic *pikk?n? (“to pick, peck, prick”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /p?nt?/
• Rhymes: -?nt?

Verb

pinch (third-person singular simple present pinches, present participle pinching, simple past and past participle pinched)

1. To squeeze a small amount of a person's skin and flesh, making it hurt.

   The children were scolded for pinching each other.

   This shoe pinches my foot.

2. To squeeze between the thumb and forefinger.
3. To squeeze between two objects.
4. (slang, transitive) To steal, usually something inconsequential.

   Someone has pinched my handkerchief!
5. (slang, transitive) To arrest or capture.
6. (horticulture) To cut shoots or buds of a plant in order to shape the plant, or to improve its yield.
7. (nautical) To sail so close-hauled that the sails begin to flutter.
8. (hunting) To take hold; to grip, as a dog does.
9. (obsolete, intransitive) To be stingy or covetous; to live sparingly.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Gower to this entry?)

   • 1788, Benjamin Franklin (attributed), Paper

     the wretch whom avarice bids to pinch and spare

10. To seize; to grip; to bite; said of animals.
11. (figuratively) To cramp; to straiten; to oppress; to starve.

    to be pinched for money

    • c. 1610?, Walter Raleigh, A Discourse of War

      want of room […] which pincheth the whole nation

    • 1902, William James, The Varieties of Religious Experience, Lecture 2:

      The Christian also spurns the pinched and mumping sick-room attitude, and the lives of saints are full of a kind of callousness to diseased conditions of body which probably no other human records show.

12. To move, as a railroad car, by prying the wheels with a pinch.
13. (obsolete) To complain or find fault.
    • 1809, Alexander Chalmers ed. The Works of the English Poets, from Cahucer to Cowper, Vol. 1, modern rendering of poem imputed to Geoffrey Chaucer, "A Ballad which Chaucer made in Praise or rather Dispraise of Women for their Doubleness":

      Therefore who so them accuse

      Of any double entencion,

      To speake, rowne, other to muse,

      To pinch at their condicion,

      All is but false collusion,

      I dare rightwell the sothe express,

      They have no better protection,

      But shrowd them vnder doubleness.

Derived terms

• pinch off
• pinch out
• pinch a loaf

Translations

Noun

pinch (plural pinches)

1. The action of squeezing a small amount of a person's skin and flesh, making it hurt.
2. A close compression of anything with the fingers.

   I gave the leather of the sofa a pinch, gauging the texture.

3. A small amount of powder or granules, such that the amount could be held between fingertip and thumb tip.
4. An awkward situation of some kind (especially money or social) which is difficult to escape.
   • 1955, Rex Stout, "Die Like a Dog", in Three Witnesses, October 1994 Bantam edition, ?ISBN, page 171:

     It took nerve and muscle both to carry the body out and down the stairs to the lower hall, but he damn well had to get it out of his place and away from his door, and any of those four could have done it in a pinch, and it sure was a pinch.

5. A metal bar used as a lever for lifting weights, rolling wheels, etc.
6. An organic herbal smoke additive.
7. (physics) A magnetic compression of an electrically-conducting filament.
8. The narrow part connecting the two bulbs of an hourglass.
   • 2001, Terry Pratchett: Thief of Time:

     It looked like an hourglass, but all those little glittering shapes tumbling through the pinch were seconds.

9. (slang) An arrest.

Derived terms

Descendants

• ? Japanese: ??? (pinchi)

Translations