tack
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /tæk/
rhymes: -æk
Forms: form: tacks
form: tache
Etymology: From Middle English tak, takke (“hook; staple; nail”), from Old Northern French taque (“nail, pin, peg”), from Frankish *takkō, from Proto-Germanic *takkô (“tip; point; protrusion; prong; tine; jag; spike; twig”), 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”).
Senses: examples: text: 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 Tour's overall leader, and his chief rivals.
ref: 2012 July 15, Richard Williams, “Tour de France 2012: Carpet tacks cannot put Bradley Wiggins off track”, in The Guardian:
glosses: A small nail with a flat head.
coordinate_terms: pushpin
glosses: A thumbtack.
topics: business
manufacturing
sewing
textiles
glosses: A loose seam used to temporarily fasten pieces of cloth.
topics: nautical
transport
glosses: The lower corner on the leading edge of a sail relative to the direction of the wind.
topics: nautical
transport
glosses: A course or heading that enables a sailing vessel to head upwind.
examples: text: So stoutly held to tack by those near North-wales men;
ref: 1612, Michael Drayton, chapter 11, in [John Selden], editor, Poly-Olbion. Or A Chorographicall Description of Tracts, Riuers, Mountaines, Forests, and Other Parts of this Renowned Isle of Great Britaine, […], London: […] [Humphrey Lownes] for M[athew] Lownes; I[ohn] Browne; I[ohn] Helme; I[ohn] Busbie, →OCLC:
text: Maud Gonne’s letter about taking them off O’Connell street at night: disgrace to our Irish capital. Griffith’s paper is on the same tack now: an army rotten with venereal disease: overseas or halfseasover empire.
ref: 1922 February, James Joyce, “[V]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC:
text: I thought that my refusing Barnard would alienate Botha, and decided that such a tack was too risky.
ref: 1994, Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela, London: Abacus, published 2010, page 637:
text: When even cautious German politicians are questioning Nato’s ‘war-mongering’ actions, it’s clear that a new tack is required
ref: 2016 June 19, Mary Dejevsky, “Isolating Russia isn’t working. The west needs a new approach”, in The Guardian:
glosses: A direction or course of action, especially a new one; a method or approach to solving a problem.
topics: nautical
transport
glosses: The maneuver by which a sailing vessel turns its bow through the wind so that the wind changes from one side to the other.
topics: nautical
transport
glosses: The distance a sailing vessel runs between these maneuvers when working to windward; a board.
topics: nautical
transport
glosses: 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.
glosses: Any of the various equipment and accessories worn by horses in the course of their use as domesticated animals.
examples: text: The laminate adhesive has very aggressive tack and is hard to move once in place.
text: Letterpress and offset gloss varnishes normally have viscosities varying from 50 to 250 poises; they must stain the paper as little as possible, have insufficient tack to cause plucking, […]
ref: 1959, E. A. Apps, Printing Ink Technology, page 415:
topics: business
chemistry
construction
manufacturing
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
glosses: The stickiness of a compound, related to its cohesive and adhesive properties.
examples: text: Near-synonyms: biscuit, bread
text: But if a woman's got nothing but her fair fame to feed on, why, it's thin tack, and a donkey would die of it!
ref: 1913, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, Sons and Lovers, London: Duckworth & Co. […], →OCLC:
glosses: Food generally; fare, especially of the hard bread or breadlike kind.
examples: text: Some tacks had been made to money bills in King Charles's time.
ref: a. 1716 (date written), [Gilbert] Burnet, edited by [Gilbert Burnet Jr.], Bishop Burnet’s History of His Own Time. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: […] Thomas Ward […], published 1724, →OCLC:
text: pay all taxes and subscribe tacks
ref: 1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC:
glosses: That which is attached; a supplement; an appendix.
examples: text: He should find[…]that there was tack in it, that it was solid silver, or silver that had strength in it.
ref: 1651-1666, Joseph Caryl, Exposition of Job with Practical Observations:
glosses: Confidence; reliance.
Synonyms: sense: nautical maneuver
word: coming about
Derived terms: bartack
Blu-Tack
change of tack
coffin tack
down tack
false tack
hardtack
hold tack
on the tack
sharp as a tack
short-tack
sit on a tack
switch tack
tack claw
tack lifter
tack room
tack weld
thumbtack
tie tack