a. Also 7 tutchie. [f. TOUCH sb. or v. + -Y; but in sense 1 perh. an alteration of TETCHY.]
1. Easily moved to anger; apt to take offence on slight cause; highly sensitive in temper or disposition; irascible, irritable, testy, tetchy.
1605. King Leir & Daughters, D j. She breeds yong bones, And that is it makes her so tutchy sure.
1619. Beaum. & Fl., Maid’s Trag., III. ii. Y’are touchie without all cause.
a. 1652. Brome, Queen, I. iv. Ther’s the old tutchie testie Lord.
1656. H. Jeanes, Fuln. Christ, 79. If earthly Potentates be so tender, and touchy in the point of their Embassadours honour and safety.
1702. C. Mather, Magn. Chr., I. ii. (1852), 50. Avoid all discoveries of a touchy humour.
1843. Le Fevre, Life Trav. Phys., I. I. viii. 170. She was most touchy upon the subject of age.
1903. G. H. Birch, Lond, on Thames, ii. 18. The citizens wanted no foreigners—they were always very touchy on that subject.
2. Sensitive to touch; physically irritable.
Quot. 1618 perh. belongs rather to 1.
1618. Latham, 2nd Bk. Falconry, xiv. 57. I perceiued her to bee very tutchie and coy to bee handled.
1658. A. Fox, Würtz’ Surg., I. vi. 25. As often as a vein or sinew is toucht … is a new pain caused; for they are very touchy and full of sense.
1710. T. Fuller, Pharm. Extemp., 209. Those whose Guts being wove up of fine-spun Fibrillæ, are touchy and irritable.
1806–7. J. Beresford, Miseries Hum. Life (1826), XI. xv. Jarring the touchy part of your elbow against the edge of the table.
1888. [see TOUCH-ME-NOT 1 b].
b. Taking fire when touched with a spark; easily ignited.
In quots. 1660 and 1766 combining this sense and 1.
1660. [implied in TOUCHINESS 1].
1679. Phil. Collect., XII. 7. Our Colliers assure me that those touchy Works which are continually apt to take Fire, do it most … in the Winter.
1766. Goody Two-Shoes, iv. (1882), 111. You are both as touchy as Tinder, and very often make your own House too hot to hold you.
3. Ticklish, risky, precarious; not to be touched without danger. (Cf. 2 b.)
1620. Wotton, in Reliq. (1672), 500. In such a touchy time as this, I had almost had my share.
1651. N. Bacon, Disc. Govt. Eng., II. vi. (1739), 36. It is a touchy thing to have to do with fire, lest it get too high.
1697. Collier, Ess. Mor. Subj., I. (1709), 53. You are upon a touchy Point, and therefore I hope you will treat so nice a Subject … with proportionable Caution.
1884. Graphic, 15 Nov., 518/2. These were, of course, very touchy subjects to ask of courtiers.
4. Painting, Drawing, etc. Characterized by or composed of distinct touches or light strokes.
1820. Examiner, No. 651. 634/1. One of the prime beauties … is its extensiveness of touchy marking, whereby in all the parts the eye is most satisfactorily entertained. Ibid. (1826), 342/1. Indifferent anatomical drawing and a want of touchy pencilling.
1839. Chatto & Jackson, Wood Engraving, viii. 649. The drawing, which originally may have been clear and touchy, loses its brightness, and becomes indistinct from its frequent contact with the soft pliable paper.
5. Involving a mere light touch. nonce-use.
1879. G. Macdonald, Sir Gibbie, xiv. As if some gentle hand had … dipped them—just a tiny touchy dip, in a molten ruby.
† 6. ‘Touched’ or slightly affected in the head; slightly crazed or crack-brained, ‘cranky’: in comb. touchy-headed.
1666. J. Smith, Old Age, To Rdr. A iij b. The Author … is himself as willing, as any touchy-headed Decryers of Anatomy and Anatomists … that all the shame … should return upon his own pate.
1675. E. Wilson, Spadacrene Dunelmensis, Pref. 17. Those touchy headed Chymists, who pretend to Panacæa’s, Universal Medicines, Secrets, and such like whimsical Remedies.
