sb. and adj. phr. (Also with hyphens.) [The vbl. phrase touch and go (TOUCH v. 26) used as sb. or adj.]
A. sb. 1. The act of touching for an instant and quitting immediately; something done quickly or instantaneously.
1655. Moufet & Bennet, Health’s Impr. (1746), 59. Howsoever we may taste of it to bring on Appetite, let it be but a touch and go.
2. Applied to a person of hasty temper or disposition. nonce-use.
1675. Duffett, Mock Temp., III. i. Old touch and go, why so hasty?
3. A risky, precarious, delicate, or ticklish case or state of things (such that a mere touch may cause disaster); a narrow escape, ‘near shave.’
1815. R. Wardlaw, Lett., in Alexander, Life, vi. (1856), 166. ’Twas touch and go—but I got my seat.
1831. Miss Ferrier, Destiny, iv. So it was with Glenroy and his lady. It had been touch-and-go with them for many a day; and now … ended in a threatened separation.
1858. C. Hunt, in Merc. Marine Mag., V. 84. Passing so close, that it is often a ‘touch and go.’
1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., Touch-and-go, said of anything within an ace of ruin; as in rounding a ship very narrowly to escape rocks, &c., or when, under sail, she rubs against the ground with her keel, without much diminution of her velocity.
1887. ‘H. Smart,’ Cleverly Won, iii. She caught [the horse] … by the mane, and though it was touch and go she managed to retain her seat.
B. adj. 1. Involving or characterized by rapid, slight, or superficial execution; sketchy; casual, careless; instantaneous; expeditious.
1812. H. & J. Smith, Rej. Addr., Pref. 11. There is an art of writing for the Theatre, technically called touch and go,… indispensable when we consider the small quantum of patience which … a London audience can be expected to afford.
1832. Moore, Mem. (1854), VI. 247. Free to introduce anecdotes, quotations, and all such touch-and-go things as the formality of an essay would not admit of.
1832. J. P. Kennedy, Swallow B., xii. It was a touch-and-go manner which spoke volumes.
1879. Stevenson, Trav. Cevennes (1886), 98. In the neighbourhood of women, it is but a touch-and go association that can be formed amongst defenceless men.
1885. Miss Braddon, Wyllard’s Weird, iv. A murder of that kind must be touch and go—no sooner thought of than done.
1891. Spectator, 14 Feb., 246/2. They are ‘touch-and-go’ sketches, and impressions such as a clever man may throw off at will.
2. Risky, of the nature of a narrow escape: cf. A. 3.
1856. Alexander, R. Wardlaw, vi. 168. His getting off at all was generally a ‘touch and go’ matter.
1897. Blackmore, in Blackw. Mag., Sept., 361. Some touch and go adventure he has been through.
