tiptoe

• tip-toe
• tippytoe, tippy-toe

From Middle English tipto, typto; equivalent to tip +‎ toe. Compare fingertip.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈtɪpˌtəʊ/, [ˈtʰɪpˌtʰəʊ̯]
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈtɪpˌtoʊ/, [ˈtʰɪpˌtʰoʊ̯]

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪptəʊ

tiptoe (plural tiptoes)

1. (usually in the plural) The tip of the toe.

Almost exclusively found in the expression on tiptoe or on one's tiptoes.

tiptoe (not comparable)

1. Standing elevated, on or as if on the tips of one's toes.
   • 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]:

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

   • 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:

     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.

2. Moving carefully, quietly, warily or stealthily, on or as if on the tips of one's toes.
   • 1782, William Cowper, Expostulation:

     with tiptoe step

   • 1819, Lord Byron, The Prophecy of Dante:

     And stole along on tiptoe tread

tiptoe (third-person singular simple present tiptoes, present participle tiptoeing, simple past and past participle tiptoed)

1. (intransitive) To walk quietly with only the tips of the toes touching the ground. [from late 14th C.]
   • 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 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.

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

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

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

     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.

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

     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

• Petito