tick

¹ American  

[tik] / tɪk /

noun

1. a slight, sharp, recurring click, tap, or beat, as of a clock.

2. Chiefly British Informal. a moment or instant.

3. a small dot, mark, check, or electronic signal, as used to mark off an item on a list, serve as a reminder, or call attention to something.

4. Stock Exchange.

   1. a movement in the price of a stock, bond, or option.

   2. the smallest possible tick on a given exchange.

5. Manège. a jumping fault consisting of a light touch of a fence with one or more feet.

6. a small contrasting spot of color on the coat of a mammal or the feathers of a bird.

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verb (used without object)

ticks, present (3rd person singular) ticked, past participle, past ticking present participle

1. to emit or produce a tick, like that of a clock.

2. to pass as with ticks of a clock.

   The hours ticked by.

verb (used with object)

ticks, present (3rd person singular) ticked, past participle, past ticking present participle

1. to sound or announce by a tick or ticks.

   The clock ticked the minutes.

2. to mark with a tick or ticks; check (usually followed byoff ); to tick off the items on the memo.

verb phrase

1. tick off

   1. to make angry.

      His mistreatment of the animals really ticked me off.

   2. Chiefly British. to scold severely.

      The manager will tick you off if you make another mistake.

idioms

1. what makes one tick, the motive or explanation of one's behavior.

   The biographer failed to show what made Herbert Hoover tick.

tick ² American  

[tik] / tɪk /

noun

1. any of numerous bloodsucking arachnids of the order Acarina, including the families Ixodidae and Argasidae, somewhat larger than the related mites and having a barbed proboscis for attachment to the skin of warm-blooded vertebrates: some ticks, as the deer tick, are vectors of disease.

2. sheeptick.

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tick ³ American  

[tik] / tɪk /

noun

1. the cloth case of a mattress, pillow, etc., containing hair, feathers, or the like.

2. ticking.

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tick ⁴ American  

[tik] / tɪk /

noun

1. a score or account.

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idioms

1. on tick, on credit or trust.

   We bought our telly on tick.

tick ¹ British  

/ tɪk /

noun

1. informal account or credit (esp in the phrase on tick )

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tick ² British  

/ tɪk /

noun

1. any of various small parasitic arachnids of the families Ixodidae ( hard ticks ) and Argasidae ( soft ticks ), typically living on the skin of warm-blooded animals and feeding on the blood and tissues of their hosts: order Acarina (mites and ticks) See also sheep tick

2. any of certain other arachnids of the order Acarina

3. any of certain insects of the dipterous family Hippoboscidae that are ectoparasitic on horses, cattle, sheep, etc, esp the sheep ked

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tick ³ British  

/ tɪk /

noun

1. a recurrent metallic tapping or clicking sound, such as that made by a clock or watch

2. informal a moment or instant

3. a mark ( ) or dash used to check off or indicate the correctness of something

4. commerce the smallest increment of a price fluctuation in a commodity exchange. Tick size is usually 0.01% of the nominal value of the trading unit

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verb

1. to produce a recurrent tapping sound or indicate by such a sound

   the clock ticked the minutes away

2. to mark or check (something, such as a list) with a tick

3. informal the basic drive or motivation of a person

tick ⁴ British  

/ tɪk /

noun

1. the strong covering of a pillow, mattress, etc

2. informal short for ticking

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tick Scientific  

/ tĭk /

1. Any of numerous small, parasitic arachnids of the suborder Ixodida that feed on the blood of animals. Like their close relatives the mites and unlike spiders, ticks have no division between cephalothorax and abdomen. Ticks differ from mites by being generally larger and having a sensory pit at the end of their first pair of legs. Many ticks transmit febrile diseases, such as Rocky Mountain spotted fever and Lyme disease.

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tick More Idioms  

More idioms and phrases containing tick

• clock is ticking
• tight as a tick
• what makes one tick

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Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

Participles

• ticking
  present
• ticked
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• tick
  simple
• ticks
  simple
• have ticked
  perfect
• has ticked
  perfect
• am ticking
  progressive
• are ticking
  progressive
• is ticking
  progressive
• have been ticking
  perfect progressive
• has been ticking
  perfect progressive

Past

• ticked
  simple
• had ticked
  perfect
• was ticking
  progressive
• were ticking
  progressive
• had been ticking
  perfect progressive

Future

• will tick
  simple
• will have ticked
  perfect
• will be ticking
  progressive
• will have been ticking
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of tick¹

First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English tek “little touch”; akin to Dutch tik “a touch, pat,” Norwegian tikka “to touch or shove slightly”; see tickle

Origin of tick²

First recorded before 900; Middle English teke, tyke, Old English ticia, perhaps spelling error for tiica (i.e. tīca ) or ticca; akin to Low German tieke, German Zecke

Origin of tick³

First recorded in 1425–75; late Middle English tikke, teke, tyke (cognate with Dutch tijk, German Zieche ), ultimately derived from Latin tēca, thēca, from Greek thḗkē “case”

Origin of tick⁴

First recorded in 1635–45; short for ticket

Explanation

To tick is to make a steady tapping sound. When something ticks — be it a clock, a watch, an oven timer, or a metronome — it’s usually a reminder that time is passing. The verb tick originally meant "to touch or pat." The current meaning may be related to the sound of a hand patting or tapping a surface. Another kind of tick is a small blood-sucking parasite. This nastier tick has a different root, the Old English ticia.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

tick ticks ticked ticking

The core rate is expected to rise 0.2% in June; if so, the yearly rate could fall a tick to 2.8%.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 13, 2026

The problem has been how to tick the radar without making the strike zone look like a Jackson Pollock painting — and recently, it has.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 3, 2026

Fitting him in as a number nine while making the rest of the team tick is Deschamps' big challenge at this World Cup.

From BBC ● Jun. 30, 2026

Nationwide Chief Economist Kathy Bostjancic estimates core inflation may stay at this peak level for another month, and only gradually tick lower in the second half of the year.

From Barron's ● Jun. 25, 2026

I watched the hands on the clock tick around calmly.

From "The Book of Unknown Americans" by Cristina Henríquez

But there is also a camp of Fed officials who believe the central bank can be patient and see whether inflation ticks down before taking action.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 11, 2026

However, he ticks a lot of boxes that are important to United.

From BBC ● Jul. 8, 2026

Lyme disease is a bacterial infection that is spread through the bite of infected black-legged ticks — also known as deer ticks.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 25, 2026

So he didn’t think much of removing two ticks 30 days before the first episode.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 25, 2026

Lately, he does this thing where he looks down over the tip of his nose at me, and one corner of his mouth ticks up.

From "Fast Pitch" by Nic Stone

This came as average mortgage rates ticked up.

From Barron's ● Jul. 9, 2026

He did not expect "imminent improvement" and warned that sales were no longer "meaningfully constrained by a lack of supply" as the number of properties for sale ticked up in June.

From Barron's ● Jul. 9, 2026

Dollar Index ticked down, but hovered near multiyear highs as the rebound in oil prices intensified inflation expectations.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 8, 2026

“I felt really good this summer playing with the guys, and I thought my level was high,” said Pulisic, who sat alone on the U.S. bench, head in hands, as the final minutes ticked off.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 7, 2026

“Because”—Anya ticked off on her fingers—“you can hardly walk. You’ve never eaten anything with a human mouth.”

From Anya and the Nightingale by Sofiya Pasternack

In this picture, particles display both wave like and particle like behavior, and the familiar flow of time must arise from relationships between different parts of the system rather than from an independent ticking clock.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 9, 2026

Act now — the clock on the statute of limitations is already ticking.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 9, 2026

The music and cheers blur into a low hum, drowned out by the deafening sound of a ticking clock only Jack can hear.

From Salon ● Jul. 4, 2026

In December 2024, when egg prices started ticking up after a new round of bird flu cases, Hickman’s CEO got a text from Cal-Maine’s former CEO, saying, “Let it rip.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 1, 2026

Time was at a standstill, except for the relentless ticking of the wall clock.

From "Sir Fig Newton and the Science of Persistence" by Sonja Thomas