TOUCH ON • FREE-TRANSLATOR.COM • Definition of Touch on

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/tətʃ ɑn/ Listen

verb

touch on v. t. To mention briefly, or in passing.

Touch v. i.

To be in contact; to be in a state of junction, so that no space is between; as, two spheres touch only at points.

To fasten; to take effect; to make impression. (R.) "Strong waters pierce metals, and will touch upon gold, that will not touch upon silver."

To treat anything in discourse, especially in a slight or casual manner; often with on or upon. "If the antiquaries have touched upon it, they immediately quitted it."

(Naut) To be brought, as a sail, so close to the wind that its weather leech shakes.

To touch and go (Naut.), to touch bottom lightly and without damage, as a vessel in motion.

To touch at, to come or go to, without tarrying; as, the ship touched at Lisbon.

To touch on or To touch upon,

(a)

to come or go to for a short time. (R.) "I made a little voyage round the lake, and touched on the several towns that lie on its coasts."

(b)

to discuss briefly, as only a small part of a discourse.

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Etymology of 'Touch on'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Touch on" Quotes from Famous Books

... to use the colored coach as a lounging-room and sleeping-car. There was no passenger except Zora. They took off their coats, stretched themselves on the seats, and exchanged jokes; but Zora was too tired to notice much, and she was dozing wearily when she felt a touch on the arm and found the porter in the seat beside her with his arm thrown familiarly behind her along the top of the back. She rose abruptly to her feet and he ...

— The Quest of the Silver Fleece - A Novel • W. E. B. Du Bois

... universal. This beautiful portrait was painted in 1643, a year after the "Night-watch". The date of the portrait of the Lady with the Fan is not given. They differ widely in style; the portrait of the man is ten years in advance of the portrait of the woman; it seems to approach very closely, to touch on, the great style which he attained in 1664, the year when he painted the Syndics. Of his early style, thin, crabbed, and yellow, there is hardly a trace in the portrait of the Man with the Hawk; it is almost a complete emancipation, ...

— Modern Painting • George Moore

... not responsible for the feelings implanted in our natures by an all-wise Providence." She assisted me in understanding this by touching her middle finger. "Philip and I owe a duty to each other, and accept a responsibility under those circumstances—the responsibility of getting married." A touch on her third finger, and an indulgent bow, announced that the lesson was ended. "I am not a clever man like you," she modestly acknowledged, "but I ask you to help us, when you next see my father, with some confidence. You know exactly what ...

— The Legacy of Cain • Wilkie Collins

... than that of Egypt; the insufficiency of our knowledge of the political and social organization of the two kingdoms is to be explained by the same reasons. The inscriptions, prolix enough on some subjects, hardly touch on others that would be much more interesting, and, moreover, their interpretation is full of difficulty. The Greek travellers knew nothing of Nineveh, while their visits to Babylon were paid in its years of decadence. They seem ...

— A History of Art in Chaldaea & Assyria, v. 1 • Georges Perrot

... cannot help writing; her works, contained in forty-odd volumes, touch on the most vital subjects in the world about her. She tells the truth precisely as she sees it. We may hope for much yet from the pen of this lady, who is still in the best years of her ...

— The Argonauts • Eliza Orzeszko (AKA Orzeszkowa)

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