touchedadj.n.

c1454 R. Pecock Folewer to Donet 11 (MED) Þis now towchid processe or ordre in techyng and leernyng moral vertues is not kept.

?a1475 (a1396) W. Hilton Scale of Perfection (Harl. 6579) ii. ii. f. 64 (MED) It was impossible godis son to be born of a touchid womman.

1581 R. Norman Newe Attractiue vii. 15 This poincte Respectiue, is a certaine poincte, whiche the touched Needle doeth alwaies Respecte or shewe.

a1586 Sir P. Sidney Arcadia (1593) v. sig. Qq4^v To repaye their touched honour of her house.

a1625 J. Fletcher Women Pleas'd ii. i, in F. Beaumont & J. Fletcher Comedies & Trag. (1647) sig. Dddddd2^v/2 Ye shall be sure I am a touch'd friend.

1667 H. Oldenburg in Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 2 423 Whether touched Needles move otherwise, when the Veins of Iron do not lie North and South.

1763 J. Wesley Surv. Wisdom God II. iii. iii. 15 If a touched Wire be split, the Poles are sometimes changed.

1880 C. Darwin & F. Darwin Power of Movement in Plants xi. 530 Touching the tips of vertically suspended radicles with caustic on one side..causes them to bend from the touched side.

1904 Bull. Ohio Agric. Exper. Station No. 156 92 The touched plants were arranged in sets of eleven plants each.

2013 L. Wagner-Martin Hist. Amer. Lit. (2015) iii. 116 Whatever the touched substance touches also becomes ice.

1595 W. Perkins Expos. Creed Apostles 360 The intercession of Christ made in heauen is tyed as it were to his person alone, yet the grones & desires of the touched heart..are here on earth among the faithfull.

1651 S. Spinckes Hand-kercheffe 25 A desire to repent and beleeve, in a touched heart and conscience, is fayth and repentance it selfe.

1710 D. Manley Mem. Europe I. iii. 371 A Heart truly touched, values nothing in comparison with the Toucher.

1768 Summer-house I. 133 Smote by reflection, I write with a touched heart, and with a trembling hand.

1828 Ladies' Mag. Jan. 40 Receiving the most devoted and tender care, touched, and grateful for the love of which she felt secure.

1877 F. Wedmore Pastorals of France 173 ‘I am very touched—very touched, my child.’ His voice shook a little with the gladness of his heart.

1914 P. G. Wodehouse White Hope i. xii, in Munsey's Mag. May 856/2 She is an erratic little thing with an awfully good heart. I feel quite touched at her remembering us.

1957 S. J. Perelman Let. 12 Apr. in Sel. Lett. (1987) 197 I was very touched by your letter about Pep.

2003 Front June 133/2 It's difficult not to feel touched by it.

1672 J. Humfrey Authority of Magistrate about Relig. 118 I count this man now as one in a Feaver, that is, touched in his head, and who can help such a conceit?

1697 ‘Philaret’ Challenge 83 Your memory I find is still indifferent sound, tho you may be, I fear, a little toucht in your other Faculties.

1705 J. Vanbrugh Confederacy v. ii You see master's a little—touched, that's all.

1715 W. Whiston Defence 175 Which I think no Man of his Learning, joyn'd with Veracity, cou'd be guilty of, unless he were touched in his Head.

1810 Sporting Mag. 35 292 He thought he was a little touched, or insane.

1850 String of Pearls 479 I think Mr. Cummings must be touched in the upper story, do you know, Mr. Todd. He's a very respectable man, but between you and I, was never over bright.

1871 A. Daly Divorce iii. ii. in America's Lost Plays (1942) XX. 1832 ‘Called you “poor fellow”, and said you was a little touched up here.’ (Points to forehead.)

1873 A. I. Thackeray Old Kensington xxviii What an extraordinary creature poor Sarah is! touched, certainly.

1902 E. Nesbit Five Children & It ii. 61 Touched in the head, eh?.. All the more shame to you boys dragging the poor afflicted child into your sinful burglaries.

1914 M. B. Lowndes Lodger v. 48 If he hadn't been, as Bunting funnily styled it, ‘just a leetle touched upstairs’, he wouldn't be here.

1957 Clarinda (Iowa) Herald-Jrnl. 17 Jan. ii. 2/3 There's a lot of fun poked at bird watchers as being a mite touched in the noggin.

1978 I. B. Singer Shosha iv. 81 Writers are all slightly touched.

2013 Sun (Nexis) 26 May 9 My friends think I'm a bit touched. Some of the questions people asked me when I was queuing were really odd.

1722 D. Defoe Hist. Col. Jack 369 One of the Merchants, not so touch'd with Drink as the young Gentleman.

1834 C. Brontë My Angria & Angrians in W. Gérin C. Brontë (1967) vi. 84 Two bottles of..ale, and a double quart of Porter..and I'm not a bit touched—only light and smart and active.

1868 J. W. Kirton One Thousand Temperance Anecd. & Facts 436 I grant you that I was rather touched, but then you hit two or three of us so heavily that we might be excused for revenging ourselves on your cellar.

1895 J. Tweeddale Moff xi. 96 In respect of her liquor-traffic..she was seen to be ‘touched’ about once a week.

1923 Scotsman 18 Oct. 8/6 I am old enough to remember when, on market day, hardly a farmer in Peeblesshire who visited the market did not go home more or less touched with drink.

1932 Northern Miner (Charters Towers, Queensland) 24 Dec. Jim had sense enough to smoke with his head out of the window, but, being touched with liquor, he had forgotten to shut the bedroom door.

1625 F. Bell tr. A. Daza Hist. Sister Ioane xii. 110 The priest was freed of his errour, & knewe that the bead was no originall, but of the touched; yet that it had the selfe same virtue, which those had which Christ himselfe blessed.

a1684 J. Evelyn Diary anno 1660 (1955) III. 250 The other Chaplaine..having Angel gold, strung on white ribbon on his arme, delivers them one by one to his Majestie: Who puts them about the neck of the Touched as they passe.

1791 P. Russell Treat. Plague iv. vi. 375 The second kind, the touched, or slightly tainted, should express the state of the circumjacent country and villages, which may have suffered, or be suffering, from the plague, though the place of the Consul's residence itself should remain sound.

1856 Med. Times & Gaz. 20 Dec. 628/1 He takes it upon himself to prove that the touched were not cured by change of air.

1902 H. B. Swete Gospel acc. St Mark 104 To bring together the two persons of the toucher and the Touched.

1985 Human Stud. 8 260 Merleau-Ponty's reflections on..the reversibility which joins the seen and the touched, are basically confined to the phenomenology of perception.

2009 Econ. & Polit. Weekly 44 53/1 It is only the contact with the other through touch that can define the touched and the untouched.

1715 E. Betts Let. 1 Mar. in K. F. Doughty Betts of Wortham (1912) xvi. 167 My mother lent Coz Mary Betts ye piece of toucht gold with ye Britaine and this motto [etc.].

1770 Catal. Pictures, Sculpt., Models exhibited at Charing-Cross 22 A touched proof of Macbeth meeting the witches, from a picture of Zuccarelli.

1819 A. Rees Cycl. XXXVIII. at Wood-engraving This touched-proof, viewed in the reversing glass, is carefully copied by the engraver on his block, which concludes the process.

1861 G. W. Thornbury Life J. M. W. Turner I. 408 Turner was always quarrelling with the engravers about his touched proofs. He wanted every proof on which he had written directions to be returned.

1919 M. Hardie Catal. of Mod. Wood-engravings 10 Touched proof on India paper, with marginal notes in pencil.

2013 R. M. Hoisington in Artists & Amateurs 77/1 The extant preparatory drawing for this etching..along with a touched proof.

1772 A. Murphy Let. 1 Mar. in D. Garrick Private Corr. (1831) I. 460 The decorations have greatly adorned the play. I cannot say that I was fobbed off with a touched-up palm tree.

a1865 E. C. Gaskell Wives & Daughters (1866) I. xvii. 201 Next morning she had to listen to a very brilliantly touched up account of the dance and the gaiety which she had missed.

1912 Smart Set Jan. 62 A touched-up complexion is often the first step in winning a man.

2005 Aberdeen Evening Herald (Nexis) 2 Mar. 20 The touched-up photos have transformed her into an image of perfection, knocking at least 30 years off her real age.

1883 F. W. Robinson Hands of Justice I. ii. v. 146 Clambering out of the window in the middle of the night was a striking example of his ‘touchedness’.

2010 Sun Herald (Sydney) (Nexis) 5 Sept. 13 Giving kindly isn't totally about ego... It's also about seeing the person's surprise and look of ‘touchedness’.