English Explanatory Dictionary

tick

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A tiny woodland arachnid of the suborder Ixodida.
noun
  1. A relatively quiet but sharp sound generally made repeatedly by moving machinery.
  2. A mark on any scale of measurement; a unit of measurement.
  3. A jiffy (unit of time defined by basic timer frequency).
  4. A short period of time, particularly a second.
  5. A periodic increment of damage or healing caused by an ongoing status effect.
  6. Each of the fixed time periods, in a tick-based game, in which players or characters may perform a set number of actions.
  7. A mark (✓) made to indicate agreement, correctness, or acknowledgement.
  8. A bird seen (or heard) by a birdwatcher, for the first time that day, year, trip, etc., and thus added to a list of observed birds.
  9. A whinchat (Saxicola rubetra).
  10. A tap or light touch.
  11. A slight speck.
verb
  1. To make a clicking noise similar to the movement of the hands of an analog clock.
  2. To make a tick or checkmark.
  3. To work or operate, especially mechanically.
  4. To strike gently; to pat.
  5. To add (a bird) to a list of birds that have been seen (or heard).
noun
  1. Ticking.
  2. A sheet that wraps around a mattress; the cover of a mattress, containing the filling.
noun
  1. Credit, trust.
verb
  1. To go on trust, or credit.
  2. To give tick; to trust.
noun
  1. A goat.

Pronunciation

/tɪk/ en-us-tick.ogg en-au-tick.ogg

Word forms

tick ticks ticking ticked

Etymology

From Middle English tyke, teke, from Old English ticia (“parasitic animal, tick”), from Proto-West Germanic *tīkō, compare Dutch teek, German Zecke.

Synonyms

jiffy sec tic bat of an eye bit blink of an eye crack eyeblink flash glimpse half a mo instant jiff jot minute mo moment New York minute New York second no time second span split-second spurt stound tick trice twink twinkle twinkling while checkmark ticking credit trust

Derived words

Australian paralysis tick bat tick black-legged tick blood tick castor bean tick cattle tick deer tick detick dog tick full as a tick hard tick Indian tick typhus kangaroo tick Kenya tick typhus lone star tick longhorned tick northeastern water tick paralysis tick pasture tick seed tick sheep tick soft tick straw tick tick bean tick bite tick-bite fever tick-borne tick-borne encephalitis tick fever tickicide tick-induced meat allergy tick meat allergy tick paralysis tick trefoil tick-trefoil tight as a tick turkey tick water tick wood tick armchair tick birdcatcher tick blue tick downtick foul tick tick-based tick box ticker ticking tick mark tick-tack ticktacktoe tic-tac-toe tick-tock to a tick uptick box-ticking clock is ticking make tick take a licking and keep on ticking tick all the boxes
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