tick

¹

[ tik ]

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.

verb (used without object)

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)

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 by off ); to tick off the items on the memo.

verb phrase

1. Slang.
   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.

tick

²

[ tik ]

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.

tick

³

[ tik ]

noun

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

tick

⁴

[ tik ]

noun

1. a score or account.

tick

¹

/ tɪk /

noun

1. the strong covering of a pillow, mattress, etc
2. informal.
   short for ticking

tick

²

/ 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

verb

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

   the clock ticked the minutes away

2. whentr, often foll by off to mark or check (something, such as a list) with a tick
3. what makes someone tick informal.
   the basic drive or motivation of a person

tick

³

/ 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 acaroid
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

tick

⁴

/ tɪk /

noun

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

tick

/ 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.

Word History and Origins

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”; 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

Word History and Origins

Origin of tick¹

C15: probably from Middle Dutch tīke; related to Old High German ziecha pillow cover, Latin tēca case, Greek thēkē

Origin of tick²

C13: from Low German tikk touch; related to Old High German zekōn to pluck, Norwegian tikke to touch

Origin of tick³

Old English ticca; related to Middle High German zeche tick, Middle Irish dega stag beetle

Origin of tick⁴

C17: shortened from ticket

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. on tick, on credit or trust:

   We bought our telly on tick.

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

   The biographer failed to show what made Herbert Hoover tick.

More idioms and phrases containing tick

In addition to the idiom beginning with tick , also see clock is ticking ; tight as a tick ; what makes one tick .

Example Sentences

Most infected ticks that had Dae2, however, survived as long as uninfected ticks.

From Science News

The ticks can carry the pathogen that causes deadly Rocky Mountain spotted fever.

From Science News

It is unclear why the adult tropical ticks switched their preference at high temperature.

From Science News

More than twice as many of the ticks moved toward the human at the hotter temperature compared with at room temperature.

From Science News

Doctors sent their blood samples to the Centers for Disease Control, which discovered that both farmers had contracted a previously unknown virus from a tick bite.

From MIT Technology Review

She actually had never been to a Deer Tick show before, but she liked it a lot.

From The Daily Beast

So we picked out the song (“Rhiannon,” click here for video), and Deer Tick learned it.

From The Daily Beast

The Senate races in both states are tight as a tick, with no candidate hitting 50 percent in any of the polls.

From The Daily Beast

Caused by the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi, the illness is transmitted by the bite of an infected tick.

From The Daily Beast

Once content to find a X-Men Calendar or a signed drawing of The Tick, fans now expect—and get—a whole lot more.

From The Daily Beast

“The sepoys have come in from Meerut,” he announced with the slow tick of the earliest form of apparatus.

From Project Gutenberg

“Seems more cheerful like,” observed the caretaker, as the steady tick-tack began to sound through the quiet room.

From Project Gutenberg

Some animals, like the rhino and the eland, have tick birds that sit upon their backs and eat the ticks.

From Project Gutenberg

Often, for a variety in the lessons, she had to go to the baker without money; then her master simply gave the order, ‘on tick!’

From Project Gutenberg

Davie used to say 'tick-tock' when he heard it, when he first learned to talk.

From Project Gutenberg