tout

verb

- to state or praise with assurance, confidence, or force; state strongly.

- to describe or advertise boastfully; publicise or promote; praise extravagantly.

- to advertise, talk about, or praise something or someone repeatedly, especially as a way of encouraging people to like, accept, buy, or use something.

Merriam-Webster, Collins Dictionary, Cambridge Dictionary

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WORD ORIGIN



The word "tout" has a fascinating journey from spy to salesman.

It originated in Middle English around 1400 from tuten meaning "to look out" or "to peer." This came from Old English tūtian ("to be sticking out, protrude") and tōtian ("to peep out, look, pry").

By the late 1600s, "tout" evolved to mean "watch" or "spy on" - particularly in thieves' cant where a "tout" was a lookout. The word first appeared as slang for "thieves' lookout" around 1718.

In the mid-1700s, the meaning shifted to "solicit custom" - aggressively seeking business. By the 1800s, it became closely associated with horse racing, where touts would spy on horses in training to gain betting information, or sell racing tips for profit.

The modern meaning - to publicly praise or promote something - emerged in the 19th century and is now the dominant usage in business contexts.

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"Without promotion, something terrible happens: nothing.” (P.T. Barnum)

"Many a small thing has been made large by the right kind of advertising." (Mark Twain)

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SYNONYMS

acclaim, advertise, ballyhoo, beat the drum for, blow one’s own horn (trumpet), blow smoke, bluster, boast, boast about, brag, brag about, champion, drum up business, endorse, eulogize, extol, flaunt, flog, give a sales pitch, glorify, go big on, hail, hard sell, hawk, herald, hype, hype up, laud, make a pitch for, make a song and dance about, oversell, overpraise, peddle, pitch, play up, plug, praise, proclaim, promote, publicise/publicize, puff (up), push (hard), rave about, recommend, sell hard, shout about, shout from the rooftops, showcase, sing one’s own praises, sing the praises of, soft-soap, spotlight, talk up, TOUT, trumpet, urge, vaunt

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SMUGGLE
 OWAD into a conversation today, say something like:

"I noticed every startup at the conference was TOUTING ‘AI integration’, but half of them just added a chatbot."

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P L E A S E   S U P P O R T   O W A D