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Tack

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tack¹

  • /tæk/ US, UK

Rhymes with -æk

Where it comes from

From Middle English tak, takke (“hook; staple; nail”), from Old Northern French taque (“nail, pin, peg”), from Frankish *takkō (“twig, branch, shoot”), of unknown origin, but possibly from Proto-Indo-European *dHgʰ-n-, from the root *déHgʰ- (“to pinch; to tear, rip, fray”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Takke (“bough; branch; twig”), West Frisian takke (“branch”), tûk (“branch, smart, sharp”), Dutch tak (“twig; branch; limb”), German Zacke (“jag; prong; spike; tooth; peak”).

noun tacks · tache

  1. countable, uncountable A small nail with a flat head. A tough test for even the strongest climber, it was new to the Tour de France this year, but its debut will be remembered for the wrong reasons after one of those spectators scattered carpet tacks on the road and induced around 30 punctures among the group of riders including Bradley Wiggins, the To
  2. countable, uncountable A thumbtack.
  3. countable, uncountable A loose seam used to temporarily fasten pieces of cloth.
  4. countable, uncountable The lower corner on the leading edge of a sail relative to the direction of the wind.
  5. countable, uncountable A course or heading that enables a sailing vessel to head upwind.
  6. countable, figuratively, uncountable A direction or course of action, especially a new one; a method or approach to solving a problem. So stoutly held to tack by those near North-wales men;
  7. countable, uncountable The maneuver by which a sailing vessel turns its bow through the wind so that the wind changes from one side to the other.
  8. countable, uncountable The distance a sailing vessel runs between these maneuvers when working to windward; a board.
  9. countable, uncountable A rope used to hold in place the foremost lower corners of the courses when the vessel is close-hauled; also, a rope employed to pull the lower corner of a studding sail to the boom.
  10. countable, uncountable Any of the various equipment and accessories worn by horses in the course of their use as domesticated animals.
  11. countable, uncountable The stickiness of a compound, related to its cohesive and adhesive properties. The laminate adhesive has very aggressive tack and is hard to move once in place.
  12. countable, uncountable Food generally; fare, especially of the hard bread or breadlike kind. Near-synonyms: biscuit, bread
  13. countable, uncountable That which is attached; a supplement; an appendix. Some tacks had been made to money bills in King Charles's time.
  14. countable, obsolete, uncountable Confidence; reliance. He should find[…]that there was tack in it, that it was solid silver, or silver that had strength in it.

tack²

  • /tæk/ US, UK

Rhymes with -æk

Where it comes from

From Middle English takken (“to attach; nail”), from the noun (see above).

verb tacks · tacking · tacked

  1. transitive To nail (something) with a tack (small nail with a flat head). The hallway smelt of boiled cabbage and old rag mats. At one end of it a colored poster, too large for indoor display, had been tacked to the wall.
  2. To sew/stitch with a tack (loose seam used to temporarily fasten pieces of cloth).
  3. To weld with initial small welds to temporarily fasten in preparation for full welding.
  4. To maneuver a sailing vessel so that its bow turns through the wind, i.e. the wind changes from one side of the vessel to the other.
  5. intransitive To sail to windward using a series of alternate tacks across the wind.
  6. To add something as an extra item. to tack (something) onto (something)
  7. Synonym of tack up (“to prepare a horse for riding by equipping it with a tack”).
  8. obsolete, slang To join in wedlock.

tack³

  • /tæk/ US, UK

Rhymes with -æk

Where it comes from

From an old or dialectal form of French tache. See techy. Doublet of tache.

noun tacks

  1. A stain; a tache.
  2. obsolete A peculiar flavour or taint. a musty tack

tack⁴

  • /tæk/ US, UK

Rhymes with -æk

Where it comes from

Back-formation from tacky.

noun

  1. colloquial, uncountable That which is tacky; something cheap and gaudy. For souvenirs – mostly outright tack and ethnicky textiles – try your bargaining skills at the shops and stalls on Binjiang Luand Zhengyang Jie, or the nightly street market spreading for about a block either side of Shanhu Bridge along Zhongshan Lu.

tack⁵

  • /tæk/ US, UK

Rhymes with -æk

Where it comes from

From Middle English tak, take (“fee, tax (on livestock)”), from Old Norse tak, taka (“a taking, seizure; revenue”), from Old Norse taka (“to take”). Cognate with Scots tack.

noun tacks

  1. Northern England, Scotland A contract by which the use of a thing is set, or let, for hire; a lease. In the Breadalbane papers, for example, there is a "tack" which was given by Sir John Campbell of Glenurchy to his "weil belouit" servant John M'Conoquhy V'Gregour, in the year 1530.

Tack⁶

proper noun Tacks

  1. A surname.

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