[f. prec.]
1. intr. To raise oneself or stand on tiptoe.
a. 1661. Holyday, Juvenal, vi. (1673), 101. Then a girle-pygmie shee’s more dwarf … and tiptoes for a kisse and flout.
1851. J. H. Newman, Cath. in Eng., 243. They crowd up together,… tiptoeing and staring, and making strange faces.
1888. Century Mag., Nov., 90/1. The … girls … left their seats to tiptoe and look over each other’s shoulders.
2. To go or walk on tiptoe; to step or trip lightly. Also to tiptoe it.
1748. Richardson, Clarissa (1811), VI. xxv. 104. Mabell tiptoed it to her door.
1880. Ellen H. Rollins (‘E. H. Arr’), New Eng. Bygones, iii. 36. I tiptoe across the fragile floor and look out.
1897. Howells, Landl. Lion’s Head, 68. Ladies … lifting their skirts and tiptoeing through the dew.
Hence Tiptoed ppl. a. (a) raised on tiptoe; also fig., rising aloft; (b) performed on tiptoe; Tiptoeing ppl. a., standing or going on tiptoe.
1632. Lithgow, Trav., X. 499. Meandring Forth from tip-toed Snadoun, the prospicuous mirrour for matchlesse Maiesty.
1682. D’Urfey, Butler’s Ghost, 92. To please the tip-toed Girl of Ten.
1819. Metropolis, III. 164. Eagle-eyed curiosity staring you in the face, tip-toed anxiety standing on either hand.
a. 1847. Eliza Cook, Rory O’More, viii. His tip-toeing feet seemed inclined for a jig.
