Tick

Pronunciation

• IPA: /tɪk/
• Rhymes: -ɪk
• Homophones: tic

From Old English ticia ("parasitic animal"), from West Germanic, compare Dutch teek, German Zecke.

Full definition of tick

Noun

1. A tiny woodland arachnid of the suborder Ixodida.

Derived terms

• tick bean
• tick trefoil

From Middle English tek ("light touch", "tap")

Noun

1. 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.
2. A mark on any scale of measurement; a unit of measurement.At midday, the long bond is up a tick.
3. (computing) A jiffy (unit of time defined by basic timer frequency).
4. (colloquial) A short period of time, particularly a second.I'll be back in a tick.
5. (Australian, NZ, British) a mark (✓) made to indicate agreement, correctness or acknowledgement; checkmarkIndicate that you are willing to receive marketing material by putting a tick in the box
6. The whinchat; so called from its note.

Derived terms

Verb

1. To make a clicking noise similar to the movement of the hands in an analog clock.
2. To make a tick mark.
3. (informal) To work or operate, especially mechanically.He took the computer apart to see how it ticked.I wonder what makes her tick.
4. To strike gently; to pat.
• LatimerStand not ticking and toying at the branches.

Derived terms

• tick all the boxes

From Middle English tike, probably from Middle Dutch, from Latin theca ("cover")

Noun

1. (uncountable) Ticking.
2. A sheet that wraps around a mattress; the cover of a mattress, containing the filling.

From ticket

Noun

1. (UK, colloquial) Credit, trust.
• 1974, GB Edwards, The Book of Ebenezer Le Page, New York 2007, p. 190:He paid his mother-in-law rent and, when the baker or the butcher or the grocer wouldn't let her have any more on tick, he paid the bills.

Verb

1. To go on trust, or credit.
2. To give tick; to trust.