toe
Forms
- Plural
- toes
- present (v1)
- toe
- past (v2)
- toed
- past participle (v3)
- toed
- present participle
- toeing
- 3rd person singular
- toes
Definitions
1.Each of the five digits on the end of the human foot.
- Stumbling forward, Tal caught the toe of his boot on rock.
- An old traditional prescription for provoking erotic inclinations ran as follows, The toe of the foot of a man, anointed with oil, or honey, or the ashes of a weasel.
2.An advanced form of ballet primarily performed by women, wearing pointe shoes.
- I have a pain in my little toe.
3.Something resembling a toe, especially at the bottom or extreme end of something.
- I have a pain in my little toe.
4.An alignment of the wheels of a road vehicle, either positive (toe in), meaning the wheels are closer together at the front than at the back, or negative (toe out), the other way round.
- I have a pain in my little toe.
1.To fasten (a piece) by driving a fastener at a near-45-degree angle through the side (of the piece) into the piece to which it is to be fastened.
- The framers toed the irregular pieces into the sill.
2.To furnish (a stocking, etc.) with a toe.
3.To touch, tap or kick with the toes.
- Just five minutes later the turnaround was complete when Arshavin toed the ball through to Bendtner, who slotted into the left corner from close range just before half-time.
- "Here's ten shillings for you, but I'm going to toe your backside first!" said Manna. And the Dane let him kick away; his yellow teeth gleamed in a servile grin and then he clutched at the money.
4.To touch or reach with the toes; to come fully up to.
Frequency
Overall
Uncommon· #3632
By learning goal
- Everyday conversation
- Rare
- General reading & writing
- Uncommon
- Academic
- Rare
- Literature
- Rare
Etymology
From Middle English to, from Old English tā, (Mercian) tāhe, from Proto-West Germanic *taihā, from Proto-Germanic *taihwǭ, from *tīhwaną (“to show, announce”), from Proto-Indo-European *deyḱ- (“to show”).