to lose one's touch
3
6.0
- idiom
:
perder el toque
- I can see, travelling around the world, you haven't lost your touch.
- seems to have lost one's touch
Examples
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Perhaps you're losing your touch, Major.
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You haven't lost your touch with the recruits.
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You thought I lost my touch.
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My dear Baron, you have not lost your touch.
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Maybe you've lost your touch.
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Doctor hasn't lost his touch.
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Seems that the great miracle-worker has lost his touch.
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You're losing your touch, Jack.
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I'm afraid we feel you've rather lost your touch.
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After years of practicing, he felt he had finally lost his touch in playing the piano.
Synonyms
12
7.5
No longer have the skill you once had to do something well
How Skilled
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is compositionally derived: 'lose' (to no longer have) combined with 'touch' in its figurative sense ('a subtle, skillful quality') yields 'lose one's skill/ability'. The possessive 'one's' simply localizes the skill to a person, and this pattern is predictable and common, so a learner who knows both constituent meanings can infer the MWE.
Etymology
Lose one's touch may come from people who work with their hands or play sports and have a special touch, the careful use of their hands or body. If they stop practicing, they lose that fine touch, so the phrase now means 'to lose the ability' to do something well.