Definition of "touchwood" [touch•wood]

• Material, such as decayed wood, that is used as tinder; punk. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Dick carefully polished the glass and held it at the right angle between the touchwood, that is, the scrapings, and the sun."
• "We found in the Indian huts at Uruana the vegetable substance called touchwood of ants, * with which we had become acquainted at the Great"
• "We found in the Indian huts at Uruana the vegetable substance called touchwood of ants, * (* Yesca de hormigas.) with which we had become acquainted at the Great Cataracts, and which is employed to stop bleeding."