VII. 271.

touchablene (tuch'a-bl-nes), n . The quality of being touchable; tangibility. touch-and-go (tuch'and-gō'), a. and n. I. a. 1. Of uncertain action or outcome; that may explode, go off, or come to a head on the least touch or provocation; hence, ticklish; uncer- tain: applied to persons, circumstances, or ac- tions. It was, as Rochford felt, touch and go , very delicate work with Sir Edward. Mrs. Oliphant, Poor Gentleman, xli. It was touch and go to that degree that they couldn't come near him, they couldn't feed him, they could scarce- ly look at him. The Century , XXXVI. 127. 2. Hasty and superficial; desultory. The allusive, touch - and - go manner. The Academy , March 3, 1888, p. 148. II. n. An uncertain or precarious state of affairs as regards the happening or not hap- pening of something. touch-body (tuch'bod i), n. A tactile corpus- cle (which see, under corpuscle ). touch -boxt (tuch'boks), n. A primer. Cocke, thy father was a fresh-water soldier, thou art not; Thou hast beene powdred, witne e thy flaxe & touch - box . Heywood , Royal King (Works, ed. Pearson, 1874, VI. 13). touch-corpuscle (tuch'kôr"pus-l), n. A touch body. See corpuscle . touch-down (tuch'doun), n. In foot - ball , the touching of the ball to the ground by a player behind his opponent's goal; the play by which this is done. - Safety touch-down, a touch-down made by one of the players behind his own goal when the ball was last touched by one of his own side. It is done for the purpose of preventing the making of a touch-down 19t. Personal reference or allusion; person by the other side. See foot - ball. ality. Speech of touch towards others should be sparingly used; for discourse ought to be as a field, without coming home to any man. Bacon, Discourse (ed. 1887). 20. A touchstone; that by which anything is examined; a test, as of gold by a touchstone; a proof; a criterion; an a ay; hence, the stamp applied by the Goldsmiths' Company to a piece of plate testifying to its finene : as, a gilt piece of the old touch (that is, of the stamp formerly in use). Fynd foure freres in a flok, that folweth that rewle Thanne haue y tynt al my tast, touche , and a aie. Piers Plowman's Crede, 1. 537. A day Wherein the fortune of ten you sand men Must bide the touch . Shak., 1 Hen. IV., iv. 4. 10. Your judgment, as it is the touch and trier Of good from bad. Middle ton, Family of Love, Epil. Be of happy cheer! For 'tis the nicest touch of human honour When some ethereal and high-favouring donor Presents immortal bowers to mortal sense. Keats , Endymion, ii. 21t. Some stone of a very durable character, suitable for preserving inscriptions or for fine monumental work. The confusion between touch stone and touch, of which former word the latter seems to be a variant, is due in part to the general inability of men (everywhere existing until very recent times) to distinguish one kind of stone from another, and in part to confusion, dating back to a very early period, between basanites and basaltes. See touchstone. Those other glorious notes, Inscribed in touch or marble, or the coats Painted or carved upon our great men's tombs.