toe
toe Lexical Profile
toe Game Scores & Validity
• noun
Any of the five digits at the front end of the human foot, or the corresponding terminal part of a limb in a tetrapod vertebrate.
"She accidentally stubbed her big toe on the corner of the wooden bedframe."
The part of a shoe, boot, sock, or stocking that covers the digits of the foot.
"His favorite wool socks had developed a small hole right at the toe."
The lower end, base, or projecting front tip of an object, tool, or geographical slope, such as the outer end of a golf club head or the foot of a glacier.
"Geologists monitored the melting ice at the toe of the mountain glacier."
• verb
To touch, reach, or kick something with the front tip of the foot, or to stand with the front of the feet aligned against a starting mark.
"The runners stepped forward to toe the starting line before the whistle blew."
To walk or stand with the feet pointed inward or outward in a specified direction.
"The ballet instructor reminded the students to toe out slightly during the exercise."
To fasten a wooden board or beam by driving nails or screws obliquely through its end (in carpentry).
"The carpenter had to toe the studs into the bottom plate to secure the frame."
Word Nuance & Usage
Do not confuse with its homophone 'tow' (to pull behind). The idiom meaning to conform to rules or standards is 'toe the line' (standing with one's toes touching a starting mark), never 'tow the line'.
• Rhymes for toe
Word Origin & Etymology
From Old English 'ta', derived from Proto-Germanic '*taihwon', which is distantly related to the Proto-Indo-European root '*deik-' meaning 'to point out' or 'to show' (the same root that yielded Latin 'digitus').