tick
/tɪk/ noun, verb
Forms ticks ticking ticked
- noun A tiny woodland arachnid of the suborder Ixodida.
- noun A relatively quiet but sharp sound generally made repeatedly by moving machinery. “The steady tick of the clock provided a comforting background for the conversation.”
- noun A mark on any scale of measurement; a unit of measurement. “At midday, the long bond is up a tick.”
- noun (computing) A jiffy (unit of time defined by basic timer frequency).
- noun (colloquial) A short period of time, particularly a second. “I'll be back in a tick.”
- noun (video games) A periodic increment of damage or healing caused by an ongoing status effect.
- noun (gaming) Each of the fixed time periods, in a tick-based game, in which players or characters may perform a set number of actions.
- noun (chiefly Commonwealth) A mark (✓) made to indicate agreement, correctness, or acknowledgement. “Indicate that you are willing to receive marketing material by putting a tick in the box”
- noun (birdwatching) A bird seen (or heard) by a birdwatcher, for the first time that day, year, trip, etc., and thus added to a list of observed birds.
- verb To make a clicking noise similar to the movement of the hands of an analog clock.
- verb To make a tick or checkmark.
- verb (informal, intransitive) To work or operate, especially mechanically. “He took the computer apart to see how it ticked.”
- verb To strike gently; to pat.
- verb (birdwatching, transitive) To add (a bird) to a list of birds that have been seen (or heard).
- noun (uncountable) Ticking.
- noun A sheet that wraps around a mattress; the cover of a mattress, containing the filling.
- noun (UK, colloquial) Credit, trust.
- verb (intransitive) To go on trust, or credit.
- verb (transitive) To give tick; to trust.
- noun (obsolete, place names) A goat. “Tickhill, Tickham, Ticknock, Tickenhall Drive, Tickenhill Manor, Tickenhurst”
Synonyms
jiffy sec tic bat of an eye bit blink of an eye crack eyeblink flash glimpse half a mo instant jiff jot minute mo moment New York minute New York second no time ticking check mark check click ticktock ticktack beat retick check off mark
Etymology
From Middle English tyke, teke, from Old English ticia (“parasitic animal, tick”), from Proto-West Germanic *tīkō, compare Dutch teek, German Zecke.
From Middle English *tik, tek, tyche (“light touch, tap”), from the verb (see Etymology 3 below). Compare Dutch tik (“a pat, tap”), Middle High German zic (“a slight touch”).
From Middle English ticken, tiken, probably from Old English *ticcian (“to touch, tap”), from Proto-West Germanic *tikkōn (“to touch, tap”), cognate with German zecken (“to nudge, poke, jab”). Doublet of tig.
From Middle English tike, probably from Middle Dutch tike and Middle Low German teke, both ultimately from Latin theca (“cover”). Compare also German Zieche (“duvet, pillowcase”).
Webster’s 1913
- noun Credit; trust; as, to buy on, or upon, tick.
- verb To go on trust, or credit.
- verb To give tick; to trust.
- noun The cover, or case, of a bed, mattress, etc., which contains the straw, feathers, hair, or other filling.
Etymology [Abbrev. from ticket.]
Etymology [OE. tike, teke; akin to D. teek, G. zecke. Cf. Tike a tick.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “tick”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details