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RELATED WORDS

register, detail, note, place, classify, file, enter, post, specify, tally, include, estimate, total, knock, scold, chide, berate, admonish, upbraid, censure

Idioms

    what makes one tick, the motive or explanation of one's behavior: The biographer failed to show what made Herbert Hoover tick.

Origin of tick

1
1400–50; late Middle English tek little touch; akin to Dutch tik a touch, pat, Norwegian tikka to touch or shove slightly. See tickle
Can be confusedtic tick
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
British Dictionary definitions for tick off

tick off

verb (tr, adverb)

to mark with a tick
informal, mainly British to scold; reprimand
Derived Formsticking off or ticking-off, noun

tick

1

noun

a recurrent metallic tapping or clicking sound, such as that made by a clock or watch
British informal a moment or instant
a mark (✓) or dash used to check off or indicate the correctness of something
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

to produce a recurrent tapping sound or indicate by such a soundthe clock ticked the minutes away
(when tr, often foll by off) to mark or check (something, such as a list) with a tick
what makes someone tick informal the basic drive or motivation of a person
See also tick off, tick over

Word Origin for tick

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

tick

2

noun

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 (def. 1) Related adjective: acaroid
any of certain other arachnids of the order Acarina
any of certain insects of the dipterous family Hippoboscidae that are ectoparasitic on horses, cattle, sheep, etc, esp the sheep ked

Word Origin for tick

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

tick

3

noun

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

Word Origin for tick

C17: shortened from ticket

tick

4

noun

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

Word Origin for tick

C15: probably from Middle Dutch tīke; related to Old High German ziecha pillow cover, Latin tēca case, Greek thēkē
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for tick off

tick

n.1

parasitic blood-sucking arachnid animal, Old English ticia, from West Germanic *tik- (cf. Middle Dutch teke, Dutch teek, Old High German zecho, German Zecke "tick"), of unknown origin. French tique (mid-15c.), Italian zecca are Germanic loan-words.

tick

n.2

mid-15c., "light touch or tap," probably from tick (v.) and cognate with Dutch tik, Middle High German zic, and perhaps echoic. Meaning "sound made by a clock" is probably first recorded 1540s; tick-tock is recorded from 1848.

tick

n.3

"credit," 1640s, shortening of ticket (n.).

tick

v.

early 13c., "to touch or pat," perhaps from an Old English verb corresponding to tick (n.2), and perhaps ultimately echoic. Cf. Old High German zeckon "to pluck," Dutch tikken "to pat," Norwegian tikke "touch lightly." Related: Ticked; ticking.

To tick (someone) off is from 1915, originally "to reprimand, scold." The verbal phrase tick off was in use in several senses at the time: as what a telegraph instrument does when it types out a message (1873), as what a clock does in marking the passage of time (1846), to enumerate on one's fingers (1899), and in accountancy, etc., "make a mark beside an item on a sheet with a pencil, etc.," often indicating a sale (by 1881). This might be the direct source of the phrase, perhaps via World War I military bureaucratic sense of being marked off from a list as "dismissed" or "ineligible." Meaning "to annoy" is recorded from 1975.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Medicine definitions for tick off

tick

[tĭk]

n.

Any of numerous small bloodsucking parasitic arachnids of the families Ixodidae and Argasidae, many of which transmit febrile diseases, such as Rocky Mountain spotted fever and Lyme disease.
Any of various usually wingless, louselike insects of the family Hippobosciddae that are parasitic on sheep, goats, and other animals.
The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Science definitions for tick off

tick

[tĭk]

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.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Idioms and Phrases with tick off

tick off

Infuriate, make angry. For example, That article ticked me off. [Colloquial; second half of 1900s] For a vulgar synonym, see piss off.

tick

In addition to the idiom beginning with tick

  • tickled pink
  • tickle one's fancy
  • tickle the ivories
  • tick off

also see:

  • clock is ticking
  • tight as a tick
  • what makes one tick
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.