tick over
Britishverb
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Also: idle. (of an engine) to run at low speed with the throttle control closed and the transmission disengaged
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to run smoothly without any major changes
keep the firm ticking over until I get back
noun
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The men also averaged a tick over five goals a game in the preliminary round plus looked a little rusty doing it.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 20, 2026
London Assembly Member Alex Wilson asks how many in the audience spent Boxing Day watching the party's membership counter tick over.
From BBC • Jan. 11, 2025
Mahomes wound up throwing for nearly 300 yards, the Chiefs held Luck to a tick over 200 yards passing, and Kansas City won 31-13 _ its first home playoff win in 25 years.
From Seattle Times • Oct. 3, 2019
As Djokovic cruised through the second set in a tick over half an hour all sense of parity evaporated.
From The Guardian • Jul. 10, 2019
Ivy watched the lime-green alarm clock on June’s bedside table tick over to 9:33.
From "Ivy Aberdeen’s Letter to the World" by Ashley Herring Blake
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
