Word: tack Part of Speech: noun Etymology: 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”). Pronunciation: /tæk/ 1. A small nail with a flat head. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: 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. 2. A thumbtack. Labels: countable, uncountable 3. A loose seam used to temporarily fasten pieces of cloth. Labels: countable, uncountable 4. The lower corner on the leading edge of a sail relative to the direction of the wind. Labels: countable, uncountable 5. A course or heading that enables a sailing vessel to head upwind. Labels: countable, uncountable 6. A direction or course of action, especially a new one; a method or approach to solving a problem. Labels: countable, figuratively, uncountable Example: So stoutly held to tack by those near North-wales men; Example: 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. 7. The maneuver by which a sailing vessel turns its bow through the wind so that the wind changes from one side to the other. Labels: countable, uncountable 8. The distance a sailing vessel runs between these maneuvers when working to windward; a board. Labels: countable, uncountable 9. 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. Labels: countable, uncountable 10. Any of the various equipment and accessories worn by horses in the course of their use as domesticated animals. Labels: countable, uncountable 11. The stickiness of a compound, related to its cohesive and adhesive properties. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: The laminate adhesive has very aggressive tack and is hard to move once in place. Example: 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, […] 12. Food generally; fare, especially of the hard bread or breadlike kind. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: Near-synonyms: biscuit, bread Example: 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! 13. That which is attached; a supplement; an appendix. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: Some tacks had been made to money bills in King Charles's time. Example: pay all taxes and subscribe tacks 14. Confidence; reliance. Labels: countable, obsolete, uncountable Example: He should find[…]that there was tack in it, that it was solid silver, or silver that had strength in it.