To touch upon

To touch upon
Touch Touch, v. i. 1. To be in contact; to be in a state of junction, so that no space is between; as, two spheres touch only at points. --Johnson. [1913 Webster]

2. To fasten; to take effect; to make impression. [R.] [1913 Webster]

Strong waters pierce metals, and will touch upon gold, that will not touch upon silver. --Bacon. [1913 Webster]

3. To treat anything in discourse, especially in a slight or casual manner; -- often with on or upon. [1913 Webster]

If the antiquaries have touched upon it, they immediately quitted it. --Addison. [1913 Webster]

4. (Naut) To be brought, as a sail, so close to the wind that its weather leech shakes. [1913 Webster]

{To touch and go} (Naut.), to touch bottom lightly and without damage, as a vessel in motion.

{To touch at}, to come or go to, without tarrying; as, the ship touched at Lisbon.

{To touch on} or {To touch upon}, (a) to come or go to for a short time. [R.] [1913 Webster]

I made a little voyage round the lake, and touched on the several towns that lie on its coasts. --Addison. [1913 Webster] (b) to discuss briefly, as only a small part of a discourse. [PJC]


The Collaborative International Dictionary of English. 2000.

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  • touch upon — index allude, comment, mention, pertain Burton s Legal Thesaurus. William C. Burton. 2006 …   Law dictionary

  • touch upon — phrasal verb [transitive] Word forms touch upon : present tense I/you/we/they touch upon he/she/it touches upon present participle touching upon past tense touched upon past participle touched upon same as touch on I have already touched upon… …   English dictionary

  • touch upon — Synonyms and related words: address to, affect, allude to, answer to, appertain to, apply to, bear on, bear upon, belong to, blink, bring to attention, bring to notice, brush, brush by, call attention to, carefully ignore, cite, cold shoulder,… …   Moby Thesaurus

  • touch upon — ► touch on (or upon) 1) deal briefly with (a subject). 2) come near to being. Main Entry: ↑touch …   English terms dictionary

  • touch upon something — ˈtouch on/upon sth derived to mention or deal with a subject in only a few words, without going into detail • In his speech he was only able to touch on a few aspects of the problem. • The central issue of the debate was hardly touched on in his… …   Useful english dictionary

  • touch\ upon — • touch (up)on v To speak of or write of briefly. The speaker touched on several other subjects in the course of his talk but mostly kept himself to the main topic. Contrast: dwell on …   Словарь американских идиом

  • touch upon sth — UK US touch on/upon sth Phrasal Verb with touch({{}}/tʌtʃ/ verb [I or T] ► to mention a subject quickly when speaking or writing about another subject: »Before concluding, I would like to touch on the excellent work done by our interns …   Financial and business terms

  • touch upon — See touch on …   New dictionary of synonyms

  • touch upon — See touch on …   Thesaurus of popular words

  • touch upon — speak of or write of briefly The news article about the company touched upon their previous legal problems …   Idioms and examples

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