touching meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

touching

adj

/ˈtʌt͡ʃɪŋ/

Etymology From Middle English touchynge, equivalent to touch + -ing.

Provoking sadness and pity; that can cause sadness or heartbreak among witnesses to a sad event or situation.

In direct contact with.

Synonyms: emotional, moving, sad, pertingent, juxtacrine
Derived terms: heart-touching, nontouching, touchingly, touchingness, untouching

prep

Etymology From Middle English touchynge, equivalent to touch + -ing.

Regarding; concerning.

Now as touching things offered vnto idoles, wee know that wee all haue knowledge.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 1 Corinthians 8:1:
Every time I ascended to the deck from my watches below, I instantly gazed aft to mark if any strange face were visible ; for my first vague disquietude touching the unknown captain, now in the seclusion of the sea, became almost a perturbation.1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter 28, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 134:

noun

Etymology From Middle English touching, touchinge, touchynge, equivalent to touch + -ing.

The act by which something is touched.

But we can also take a more analytical attitude to these displays, interpreting the movements as no more than approachings, touchings, and departings with no implication that one shape caused the other to move.2011, Lance J. Rips, Lines of Thought: Central Concepts in Cognitive Psychology, page 168:

India, In plural A snack served with alcoholic drinks in an informal environment.

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.