toe

From Middle English to, from Old English tā, (Mercian) tāhe, from Proto-Germanic *taihwǭ (compare Dutch teen, German Zehe, Danish tå, Swedish tå), from *tīhwaną (“to show, announce”) (compare Old English teōn (“to accuse”), German zeihen (“to accuse, blame”)), from Proto-Indo-European *deyḱ- (“to show”) (compare Hittite [script needed] (tekkuššāi), Latin dīcere (“to say”), digitus (“finger”), Ancient Greek δείκνυμι (deíknumi, “to point out, show”), Sanskrit दिदेष्टि (dídeṣṭi), दिशति (diśáti)).

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /təʊ/
• Rhymes: -əʊ
• (US) IPA^(key): /toʊ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Homophone: tow

toe (countable and uncountable, plural toes)

1. Each of the five digits on the end of the foot.
2. An equivalent part in an animal.

   Hyponym: hoof

3. That part of a shoe or sock covering the toe.
4. Something resembling a toe, especially at the bottom or extreme end of something.

   (golf) the extreme end of the head of a club.

   (hurling) the end of a hurley.

   (cricket) the tip of the bat farthest from the handle

   (kayaking) the bow; the front of the kayak.

   (geology) a bulbous protrusion at the front of a lava flow or landslide.

5. (dance, uncountable) An advanced form of ballet primarily performed by women, wearing pointe shoes.
6. (automotive) An alignment of the wheels of a road vehicle, either positive (toe in), meaning the wheels are closer together at the front than at the back, or negative (toe out), the other way round.
7. (engineering) The journal, or pivot, at the lower end of a revolving shaft or spindle, which rests in a step.
8. (engineering) A lateral projection at one end, or between the ends, of a piece, such as a rod or bolt, by means of which it is moved.
9. (engineering) A projection from the periphery of a revolving piece, acting as a cam to lift another piece.
10. (carpentry) The long side of an angled cut.
11. The upper end of the bit (cutting edge) of an axehead; as opposed to the heel (lower end).
12. (slang) A cameltoe.
13. (Australia, New Zealand, slang, uncountable) Speed, energy, vigor.

    to have a lot of toe

• (antonym(s) of “each of the five digits on the end of the foot”): heel
• (antonym(s) of “front of the kayak”): tail
• (antonym(s) of “angled cut in carpentry”): heel

• (each of the five digits on the end of the foot):

  hallux, big toe, great toe, large toe

  second toe, long toe

  third toe, middle toe, ring toe

  fourth toe, ring toe

  fifth toe, little toe, pinky toe, baby toe, tiny toe

• (each of the five digits on the end of the foot): nail

• (each of the five digits on the end of the foot): foot

• (each of the five digits on the end of the foot): finger

toe (third-person singular simple present toes, present participle toeing, simple past and past participle toed)

1. (transitive) To furnish (a stocking, etc.) with a toe.
2. (transitive, intransitive) To touch, tap or kick with the toes.
   • 1927, Nordahl Grieg, The Ship Sails On, page 153:

     "Here's ten shillings for you, but I'm going to toe your backside first!" said Manna. And the Dane let him kick away; his yellow teeth gleamed in a servile grin and then he clutched at the money.

   • 2010 December 29, Mark Vesty, “Wigan 2 - 2 Arsenal”, in BBC‎:

     Just five minutes later the turnaround was complete when Arshavin toed the ball through to Bendtner, who slotted into the left corner from close range just before half-time.

3. (transitive) To touch or reach with the toes; to come fully up to.

   to toe the mark

4. (construction, transitive) To fasten (a piece) by driving a fastener at a near-45-degree angle through the side (of the piece) into the piece to which it is to be fastened.

   The framers toed the irregular pieces into the sill.

5. (golf, transitive) To mishit a golf ball with the toe of the club.

• hang five
• hang ten
• tiptoe
• TOE

• Jonathon Green (2024) “toe n.”, in Green’s Dictionary of Slang

• EOT, ETO, EtO, OTE, Teo

From Dutch toe (“then”), a chiefly dialect variant of toen, from Middle Dutch doe. The -n in Dutch toen was added by analogy with dan (“then”).

toe

1. (referring to the past) then; at that time; at that moment

   Ek het toe nog nie lank in Pretoria gewoon nie.

   I hadn’t lived in Pretoria for long then.

• dan (“then” referring to the present and future)

toe

1. (referring to the past) when; as

   Toe ek by my skoonouers kuier, het ons elke dag gebraaide vleis geëet.

   When I stayed at my in-laws’, we had fried meat every day.

• Since “toe” by itself refers always to the past, it is often followed by the simple form of the verb (“present tense”) as in the example above, rather than the perfect. However, verbs that have a preterite use this form.

• wanneer (“when” referring to the present and future)

From Dutch toe, from Middle Dutch toe.

toe

1. (local) to

   Ons gaan skool toe.

   We’re going to school.

• If an article, determiner, or adjective is to precede the noun, the preposition na must be used additionally:

Ons gaan na die nuwe skool toe.

We’re going to the new school.

toe

1. adverbial form of tot, found chiefly in compounds
2. closed; shut; not open

   Die deur is toe.

   The door is closed.

• (closed): gesluit (geslote)

• daartoe
• hiertoe
• waartoe

Compare Hindi तू (tū).

toe

1. you

• Beknopt Nederland-Sarnami Woordenboek met Sarnami Hindoestani-Nederlanse Woordenlijst‎ (in Dutch), Paramaribo: Instituut voor Taalwetenschap, 2002

• IPA^(key): /tu/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: toe
• Rhymes: -u

From Middle Dutch toe, from Old Dutch *tuo, from Proto-Germanic *tō.

toe

1. (postpositional) adverbial form of tot (“to, till, towards”)

   Het doet er niet toe.

   It doesn't matter.

2. after, afterwards

   Hij kreeg nog wat lekkers toe. ― He got something tasty afterwards.

3. shut, closed (especially as part of a compound verb like toedoen)

   De deur is toe. — The door is closed.

   Doe de deur toe. — Close the door.

   Oogjes toe. — Eyes closed.

Verbs:

Others:

• Afrikaans: toe
• Jersey Dutch: tû
• Negerhollands: tu, toe, due

toe

1. come on!, go on! (used when trying to coax someone into doing something)

   Toe maar!

   (please add an English translation of this usage example)

toe

1. (now dialectal) Alternative form of toen.

toe

1. (now dialectal) Alternative form of toen.

From Proto-Finnic *togëh, borrowed from Proto-Baltic *takis, compare Lithuanian takišys, Latvian tacis.

• IPA^(key): /ˈtoeˣ/, [ˈt̪o̞e̞(ʔ)]
• Rhymes: -oe
• Syllabification^(key): to‧e

toe (rare)

1. A small dam, usually made of logs.

• hirsipato
• tammi

• pato

• ote, teo-

toe

1. inflection of toar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

From Proto-Finnic *togëh. Cognates include Finnish toe and Estonian tõke.

• (Ala-Laukaa) IPA^(key): /ˈtoe/, [ˈto̞e̞]
• (Soikkola) IPA^(key): /ˈtoe/, [ˈto̞e̞]
• Rhymes: -oe
• Hyphenation: to‧e

toe

1. fishweir

• Ruben E. Nirvi (1971) Inkeroismurteiden Sanakirja, Helsinki: Suomalais-Ugrilainen Seura, page 588

• IPA^(key): /tuə/

From Old Dutch tuo, from Proto-Germanic *tō.

• to, te

toe

1. to, towards
2. up to
3. until
4. in relation with
5. in addition, furthermore
6. shut, closed (especially the eyes)

This word is often encountered following a noun phrase and could arguably be said to be a postposition rather than an adverb.

• Dutch: toe
  • Afrikaans: toe
  • Jersey Dutch: tû
  • Negerhollands: tu, toe, due

toe

1. (eastern) Alternative form of te

toe

1. Alternative form of doe

• “toe (II)”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
• “toe (III)”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
• Verwijs, E., Verdam, J. (1885–1929) “toe (I)”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, →ISBN, page I
• Verwijs, E., Verdam, J. (1885–1929) “toe (II)”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, →ISBN, page II

toe f (definite singular toa, indefinite plural toer, definite plural toene)

1. (dialectal, Trøndelag) second (number two in a series)

toe

1. inflection of toar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

toe

1. inflection of toar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

From Proto-Polynesian *toe. Cognates include Tuvaluan toe and Samoan toe.

• IPA^(key): [ˈto.e]
• Hyphenation: to‧e

toe

1. again, once more

toe

1. final, last

• R. Simona, editor (1986), Tokelau Dictionary‎, Auckland: Office of Tokelau Affairs, page 388

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [twɛ˧˧]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [twɛ˧˧]
• (Hồ Chí Minh City) IPA^(key): [t⁽ʷ⁾ɛ˧˧]

toe • (𡄪)

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.