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tuck

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tuck¹

  • /tʌk/
  • /tʊk/ Ireland, Northern England

Rhymes with -ʌk

Where it comes from

From Middle English tuken, touken (“to torment, to stretch (cloth)”), from Old English tūcian (“to torment, vex”) and Middle Dutch tucken (“to tuck”), both from Proto-Germanic *teuh-, *teug- (“to draw, pull”) (compare also *tukkōną), from Proto-Indo-European *dewk- (“to pull”). Akin to Old High German zucchen (“to snatch, tug”), zuchôn (“to jerk”), German Low German tuken (“to tug, pluck, grab and pull towards”), Old English tēon (“to draw, pull, train”). Doublet of touch.

verb tucks · tucking · tucked

  1. transitive To pull or gather up (an item of fabric).
  2. transitive To push into a snug position; to place somewhere safe, or handy, or somewhat hidden. Tuck in your shirt.  I tucked in the sheet.  He tucked the $10 bill into his shirt pocket.
  3. intransitive, often, with "in" or "into" To eat; to consume.
  4. ergative To fit neatly. The sofa tucks nicely into that corner.
  5. To curl into a ball; to fold up and hold one's legs. The diver tucked, flipped, and opened up at the last moment.
  6. To sew folds; to make a tuck or tucks in. to tuck a dress
  7. To full, as cloth.
  8. ambitransitive Of a drag queen, trans woman, etc., to conceal one's penis and testicles, as with a gaff or by fastening them down with adhesive tape. Honey, have you tucked today? We don't wanna see anything nasty down there.
  9. To keep the thumb in position while moving the rest of the hand over it to continue playing piano keys that are outside the thumb (when playing scales).
  10. abbreviation, ellipsis Ellipsis of Mach tuck Never take a first-generation Learjet past Mach 0.82; it'll tuck hard nose-down and you won't be able to pull out from the dive.

Opposite: untuck

noun tucks

  1. countable, uncountable An act of tucking; a pleat or fold.
  2. countable, uncountable A fold in fabric that has been stitched in place from end to end, as to reduce the overall dimension of the fabric piece.
  3. countable, uncountable A curled position.
  4. countable, uncountable A plastic surgery technique to remove excess skin. tummy tuck
  5. countable, uncountable The act of keeping the thumb in position while moving the rest of the hand over it to continue playing keys that are outside the thumb.
  6. countable, uncountable A curled position, with the shins held towards the body.
  7. countable, uncountable The afterpart of a ship, immediately under the stern or counter, where the ends of the bottom planks are collected and terminate by the tuck-rail.
  8. India, UK, dated, uncountable Food, especially snack food. 'What on earth do Coker and his parcel of tuck matter to us? You're not thinking of snooping his tuck, I suppose, like Bunter.'

tuck²

  • /tʌk/
  • /tʊk/ Ireland, Northern England

Rhymes with -ʌk

Where it comes from

From Old French estoc (“rapier”), from Italian stocco (“a truncheon, a short sword”). Doublet of estoc.

noun tucks

  1. archaic A rapier, a sword. […] with force he labour'd / To free's blade from retentive scabbard; / And after many a painful pluck, / From rusty durance he bail'd tuck […]

tuck³

  • /tʌk/
  • /tʊk/ Ireland, Northern England

Rhymes with -ʌk

Where it comes from

Compare tocsin.

noun tucks

  1. The beat of a drum.

Tuck⁴

proper noun Tucks

  1. countable, uncountable A surname.
  2. countable, uncountable A diminutive of the male given name Tucker.
  3. countable, uncountable An unincorporated community in Daviess County, Kentucky, United States.

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: pucker, insert, gather, fold, table, ply, crease, jump, target, kiss, meter, ee, nip, fall-back, put, fallback

verb

Opposite: untuck

Translations

Every language

verb push the end of fabric out of sight

Españolhacer dobladillo
Françaisrentrer
Italianorimboccare, ripiegare
Русскийподвора́чивать podvoráčivatʹ, подверну́ть podvernútʹ, засу́чивать zasúčivatʹ, засучи́ть zasučítʹ

verb place somewhere safe or hidden

Españolresguardar
Italianoripiegare, infilare
Русскийзасо́вывать zasóvyvatʹ, засу́нуть zasúnutʹ

verb fit neatly

Españolencajar
Italianoincastrare, incastrarsi, adattarsi

verb curl into a ball; fold up and hold one's legs

Italianorannicchiarsi

verb sew folds

中文打褶 dǎzhě
Italianopieghettare

verb conceal one's penis

Españoltrucarse
Portuguêsaquendar
Françaistucker

noun sewing: fold stitched from end to end

中文牙籤褶 /牙签褶 yáqiānzhě, 縫褶 /缝褶 féngzhě

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MLA

"tuck." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/tuck. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

tuck. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/tuck

Chicago

"tuck." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/tuck.

BibTeX
@misc{tuck_2026,
  title = {tuck},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/tuck},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}