Word.ws English Dictionary

touching off

touching off is the present participle and gerund of touch off.

Meaning of touch off

Verb

touch off (third-person singular simple present touches off, present participle touching off, simple past and past participle touched off)

  1. (idiomatic, transitive) To start (something); to set off traps; especially used for unstable situations that may magnify if disturbed.
    • Be cautious talking about religion or politics, lest you touch off an argument.
  2. (idiomatic, transitive) To cause a fire to start.
    • A spark touched off the conflagration.
  3. To establish a reference coordinate or datum, by moving the tool head to just touch the workpiece or machine bed.
    • A traditional method of touching off uses a piece of thin paper placed between the tool and workpiece.

Questions about touching off

What is touching off the present participle and gerund of?
Touching off is the present participle and gerund of touch off.

Words near touching off in the dictionary

  1. touching cloth
  2. touching down
  3. touching grass
  4. touching home
  5. touching in
  6. touching off
  7. touching on
  8. touching one's forelock
  9. touching oneself
  10. touching some grass
  11. touching someone's hem

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: touching off (page history and authors); touch off (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “touching off.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/touching_off. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.