Touch"ing, n. The sense or act of feeling; touch.
Touch"-me-not` (?), n. (Bot.) (a) See Impatiens. (b) Squirting
cucumber. See under Cucumber.
Touch"-nee`dle (?), n. (Metal.) A small bar of gold and silver, either
pure, or alloyed in some known proportion with copper, for trying the
purity of articles of gold or silver by comparison of the streaks made
by the article and the bar on a touchstone.
Touch"-pa`per (?), n. Paper steeped in saltpeter, which burns slowly,
and is used as a match for firing gunpowder, and the like.
Touch"stone` (?), n. 1. (Min.) Lydian stone; basanite; — so called
because used to test the purity of gold and silver by the streak which
is left upon the stone when it is rubbed by the metal. See Basanite.
2. Fig.: Any test or criterion by which the qualities of a thing are
tried. Hooker.
The foregoing doctrine affords us also a touchstone for the trial of
spirits.
South.
Irish touchstone (Min.), basalt, the stone which composes the Giant's
Causeway.
Touch"wood` (?), n. [Probably for tachwood; OE. tache tinder (of
uncertain origin) + wood.]