Noun (plural ticks)
- (fauna) A tiny woodland arthropod of the order Acarina.
Origin From Old English ticia (“parasitic animal"), from West Germanic, compare Dutch teek, German Zecke.
Noun (plural ticks)
- 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.
- A mark on any scale of measurement; a unit of measurement.
- At midday, the long bond is up a tick.
- (computing) A jiffy (unit of time defined by basic timer frequency).
- (colloquial) A short period of time, particularly a second.
- I'll be back in a tick.
- (Australia, New Zealand, UK) a mark (✓) made to indicate agreement, correctness or acknowledgement; checkmark
- Indicate that you are willing to receive marketing material by putting a tick in the box
Verb (third-person singular simple present ticks, present participle ticking, simple past and past participle ticked)
- To make a clicking noise similar to the movement of the hands in an analog clock.
- To make a tick mark.
- (informal) To work or operate, especially mechanically.
- He took the computer apart to see how it ticked.
- I wonder what makes her tick.
- To strike gently; to pat.
Origin From Middle English tek (“light touch", "tap")
Noun (countable and uncountable, plural ticks)
- (uncountable) Ticking.
- A sheet that wraps around a mattress; the cover of a mattress, containing the filling.
Origin From Middle English tike, probably from Middle Dutch, from Latin theca (“cover")
Noun (plural ticks)
- (UK, colloquial) Credit, trust.
Verb (third-person singular simple present ticks, present participle ticking, simple past and past participle ticked)
- To go on trust, or credit.
- To give tick; to trust.
Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster's Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
