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. 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 ² 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 ³ British  

/ tɪk /

noun

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

2. informal short for ticking

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tick ⁴ British  

/ tɪk /

noun

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

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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

Analysts had expected same-store sales to tick up 0.8%.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 26, 2026

While rarely fatal, Lyme disease can cause rashes and flu-like symptoms among people who are bitten by an infected tick, and in some cases neurological problems.

From Barron's ● Aug. 14, 2026

He thought he had, when he was matched with a woman who seemed to tick every box.

From BBC ● Aug. 10, 2026

Wall Street analysts later explained that the real motivation was likely to protect the Treasury market, just as volatility was starting to tick higher.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 6, 2026

The clock on the mantel is a Herr Thiessen creation, adorned with tiny books flipping through their pages as the seconds tick toward three o’clock in the morning.

From "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern

“Japan currently ticks all three of those boxes,” says Colvin.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 26, 2026

It feels inevitable that I’ve started to internalize its ticks, even the most infamous ones, like incessant em-dashing and overreliance on the “It’s not x but y” structure.

From Slate ● Aug. 18, 2026

Just this month, tularemia, also known as rabbit fever and caused by a bacterium in ticks and deer flies, was detected in people living on Long Island.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 16, 2026

Spiders belong to a large group of invertebrates called chelicerates, which also includes scorpions and ticks.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 4, 2026

She grabs her purse and Jaimito’s stroller, and ticks off more rules.

From "The Queen of Water" by Laura Resau

Both main contracts fell more than two percent Monday as Bessent's comments appeared to suggest the US will hold off military action, but they ticked higher in early Asian trade.

From Barron's ● Aug. 25, 2026

The nonwhite share of the electorate ticked up only to 28%.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 25, 2026

"I probably just ticked all the boxes of what Llamau could help with and what Upstream could help with," said Emily who, at the time was struggling with severe depression.

From BBC ● Aug. 23, 2026

U.S. equity indexes were lower in recent trade on Tuesday, even as bond yields ticked slightly lower.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 18, 2026

Seven ticked each point off on her fingers.

From "Witchlings" by Claribel A. Ortega

European Council chief Antonio Costa kicked off a tour of EU capitals this week bidding to hammer out a compromise on the budget -- with the clock ticking down to a December deadline.

From Barron's ● Aug. 27, 2026

At Walmart’s U.S. locations, traffic was up 1.5%, but per-trip spending trailed that figure, ticking 1.1% higher.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 21, 2026

Paramount specifically wants the bond to cover the roughly $7 million-a-day, or $650 million per-quarter, ticking fee it will owe Warner shareholders if the deal hasn’t closed by Oct.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2026

Monday's filing reflects the pressure on Paramount, with a $7 million-a-day "ticking fee" due to kick in for Warner Bros. shareholders if the takeover is not complete by October 1.

From Barron's ● Aug. 17, 2026

For a moment, he lets his brain hope that if the time were ticking near the release, Byrd would have come to wake him.

From "A Bird Will Soar" by Alison Green Myers