retouch
English
Etymology
From French retoucher.
Pronunciation
- (verb) enPR: rē-tŭchʹ, IPA(key): /ɹɪˈtʌtʃ/
Audio (Hampshire, England) (file) - Rhymes: -ʌtʃ
- (noun) enPR: rēʹ-tŭch, IPA(key): /ˈɹiːtʌtʃ/
Audio (Hampshire, England) (file) - Hyphenation: re‧touch
Verb
retouch (third-person singular simple present retouches, present participle retouching, simple past and past participle retouched)
- (transitive) To improve something (especially a photograph), by adding or correcting details, or by removing flaws.
- a. 1701 (date written), John Dryden, “Epistle the Fourteenth. To Sir Godfrey Kneller, Principal Painter to His Majesty.”, in The Miscellaneous Works of John Dryden, […], volume II, London: […] J[acob] and R[ichard] Tonson, […], published 1760, OCLC 863244003, page 201:
- For time ſhall with his ready pencil ſtand;
Retouch your figures with his ripening hand;
Mellow your colors, and imbrown the teint;
Add every grace, which time alone can grant;
To future ages ſhall your fame convey,
And give more beauties than he takes away.
-
- (transitive) To colour the roots of hair to match hair previously coloured.
- (archaeology) To modify a flint tool by making secondary flaking along the cutting edge.
Conjugation
Conjugation of retouch
| infinitive | (to) retouch | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| present tense | past tense | ||
| 1st-person singular | retouch | retouched | |
| 2nd-person singular | |||
| 3rd-person singular | retouches | ||
| plural | retouch | ||
| subjunctive | retouch | retouched | |
| imperative | retouch | — | |
| participles | retouching | retouched | |
Translations
to improve something, especially a photograph
|
Noun
retouch (plural retouches)
- The act of retouching.
Translations
act of retouching
|
Anagrams
- Hectour, hectour, toucher