ticktack

Or tick-tack

[tik-tak]

noun

1. a repetitive sound, as of ticking, tapping, knocking, or clicking.

   the ticktack of high heels in the corridor.

2. a device for making a tapping sound, as against a window or door in playing a practical joke.

verb (used without object)

1. to make a repeated ticking or tapping sound.

   Sleet ticktacked against the window panes.

ticktack

/ ˈtɪkˌtæk /

noun

1. a system of sign language, mainly using the hands, by which bookmakers transmit their odds to each other at racecourses

2. a ticking sound, as made by a clock

Word History and Origins

Origin of ticktack¹

1540–50; imitative See tick ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of ticktack¹

from _tick ¹

Example Sentences

The regular ticktack of the machine guns and the cracking of the shells were distinctly heard even among the terrific noises of the bombardment.

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To these may be added a dozen or more which seem to be of doubtful formation, such as huckaback, pickapack, gimcrack, ticktack, picknick, barrack, knapsack, hollyhock, shamrock, hammock, hillock, hammock, bullock, roebuck.

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Utter silence descended upon the court room—silence broken only by the slow ticktack of the self-winding clock on the rear wall and the whine of the electric cars on Park Row.

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Verily, to such measure and ticktack, it liketh neither to dance nor to stand still.

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To small virtues would they fain lure and laud me; to the ticktack of small happiness would they fain persuade my foot.

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