tiptoe

plural tiptoes · alternative tip-toe · alternative tippytoe · alternative tippy-toe

1. plural normallyThe tip of the toe.

alternative tip-toe · alternative tippytoe · alternative tippy-toe

1. not comparableStanding elevated, on or as if on the tips of one's toes.

   Night's candles are burnt out, and jocund day / Stands tiptoe on the misty mountain tops.

   c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene v]

   1 more example

   And ever as they talked Beregond was more amazed, and looked with greater wonder at the hobbit, swinging his short legs as he sat on the seat, or standing tiptoe upon it to peer over the sill at the lands below.

   1955 October 20, J[ohn] R[onald] R[euel] Tolkien, “Minas Tirith”, in The Return of the King: Being the Third Part of The Lord of the Rings […], New York, N.Y.: Ballantine Books, published December 1978, →ISBN, book V, page 39

2. not comparableMoving carefully, quietly, warily or stealthily, on or as if on the tips of one's toes.

   with tiptoe step

   1782, William Cowper, Expostulation

   1 more example

   And stole along on tiptoe tread

   1819, Lord Byron, The Prophecy of Dante

present singular third person tiptoes · participle present tiptoeing · participle past tiptoed · past tiptoed · alternative tip-toe · alternative tippytoe · alternative tippy-toe

1. intransitiveTo walk quietly with only the tips of the toes touching the ground.First known use late 14th C.

   A few aging men tiptoed in [...] men who had been Bert's companions at drinking or pennyante while the world passed them by.

   1949, Dorothy M. Johnson, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance; in Indian Country, London: Corgi, 1961, page 90

   4 more examples

   We went tip-toeing along a path amongst the trees back towards the end of the widow's garden, stooping down so as the branches wouldn't scrape our heads.

   1884 December 10, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], chapter II, in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: (Tom Sawyer’s Comrade) […], London: Chatto & Windus, […], →OCLC, page 8

   We tiptoed into the house, up the stairs and along the hall to the door of the room where the Professor had been spending so much of his time.

   1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter XIII, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC, page 304

   Tiptoe through the window By the window, that is where I'll be Come tiptoe through the tulips with me Tiptoe from your pillow To the shadow of the willow tree And tiptoe through the tulips with me.

   1929, “Tiptoe Through the Tulips”, Al Dubin (lyrics), Joe Burke (music), performed by Nick Lucas

   Who can it be knocking at my door? Make no sound, tiptoe across the floor If he hears, he'll knock all day I'll be trapped and here I'll have to stay

   1981, Men at Work, “Who Can It Be Now?”, in Business as Usual

   Synonyms: tip

1. A small village in Hordle parish and Sway parish, New Forest district, Hampshire, England (OS grid ref SZ2597).