touch-box, a box containing powder for priming a fire-arm; ‘Fire the touch-box’, Return from Parnassus, iv. 2. 8. See [twitch-box].
tour, a lady’s head-dress or wig. Etherege, Man of Mode, ii. 1 (Medley). F. ‘Un tour de tête, un tour, sorte de petite perruque de femme’ (Hatzfeld).
toure, towre, to see, to look (Cant). To towre, to see, Harman, Caveat, p. 84; toure out, Brome, Jovial Crew, ii. 1 (Patrico).
toward, in preparation, near at hand. Mids. Night’s D. iii. 1. 81; Tam. Shrew, i. 1. 68; towards, Romeo, i. 5. 124; towardness, docility, Bacon, Essay 19.
towker, a ‘tucker’, a fuller of cloth. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i, c. 14, § 4. ME. towkere, ‘fullo’ (Voc. 629. 2), towker, P. Plowman, A. Prol. 100. See Dict. M. and S. (s.v. Tokker).
town-top, Fletcher, Nightwalker, i. 3 (Nurse). See [parish-top].
to-wry, to hide, conceal; ‘Your sighs you fetch from far, And all to-wry your woe’, Sir T. Wyatt, The Lover’s Case cannot be hidden, 26 (ed. Bell, p. 95). ME. wrye, to cover (Chaucer, C. T. E. 887), OE. wrēon, to cover; wrigen, pp.
toy, a trifle, a trifling ornament. Twelfth Nt. iii. 3. 44; ‘Any toys for your head’, Winter’s Tale, iv. 4. 326; Bacon, Essay 19; a trifling matter, something of no value, Othello, i. 3. 270; an idle fancy, whim, King John, i. 1. 232; Richard III, i. 1. 60; Two Noble Kinsmen, v. 4. 79; Chapman, Bussy D’Ambois, i (Beaupré).
to-year, this year. Webster, Duch. of Malfi, ii. 1 (Duchess); to-yere, id., Appius and Virginia, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, iv. 118. In gen. prov. use in England and Ireland (EDD.). ME. to-yere, this year (Chaucer, C. T. D. 168).
trace, the straps by which a vehicle is drawn, traces. Golding, Metam. ii. 109; fol. 16, back (1603); ‘Trace, horse harnesse, trays’, Palsgrave. ME. trayce, horsys harneys, ‘trahale’ (Prompt.). F. traits, pl. of trait, ‘the cord or chain that runs between the horses’ (Cotgr.). Traces is therefore a double plural. See Dict.