tack
Part of speech: noun
verb
Morphological type: simple
Topics: business
chemistry
construction
manufacturing
natural-sciences
nautical
physical-sciences
sewing
textiles
transport
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”).
Inflected forms:
form: tacks
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: tache
pos: noun
tags: alternative
form: tacks
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: tacking
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: tacked
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: tacked
pos: verb
tags: past
Senses:
gloss: A small nail with a flat head.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: 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.
gloss: A thumbtack.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: A loose seam used to temporarily fasten pieces of cloth.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: The lower corner on the leading edge of a sail relative to the direction of the wind.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: A course or heading that enables a sailing vessel to head upwind.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: A direction or course of action, especially a new one; a method or approach to solving a problem.
pos: noun
tags: countable
figuratively
uncountable
examples: So stoutly held to tack by those near North-wales men;
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.
I thought that my refusing Barnard would alienate Botha, and decided that such a tack was too risky.
When even cautious German politicians are questioning Nato’s ‘war-mongering’ actions, it’s clear that a new tack is required
gloss: The maneuver by which a sailing vessel turns its bow through the wind so that the wind changes from one side to the other.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: The distance a sailing vessel runs between these maneuvers when working to windward; a board.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: 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.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: Any of the various equipment and accessories worn by horses in the course of their use as domesticated animals.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: The stickiness of a compound, related to its cohesive and adhesive properties.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: The laminate adhesive has very aggressive tack and is hard to move once in place.
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, […]
gloss: Food generally; fare, especially of the hard bread or breadlike kind.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: Near-synonyms: biscuit, bread
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!
gloss: That which is attached; a supplement; an appendix.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: Some tacks had been made to money bills in King Charles's time.
pay all taxes and subscribe tacks
gloss: Confidence; reliance.
pos: noun
tags: countable
obsolete
uncountable
examples: He should find[…]that there was tack in it, that it was solid silver, or silver that had strength in it.
gloss: To nail (something) with a tack (small nail with a flat head).
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: 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.
gloss: To sew/stitch with a tack (loose seam used to temporarily fasten pieces of cloth).
pos: verb
gloss: To weld with initial small welds to temporarily fasten in preparation for full welding.
pos: verb
gloss: 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.
pos: verb
gloss: To sail to windward using a series of alternate tacks across the wind.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
gloss: To add something as an extra item.
pos: verb
examples: to tack (something) onto (something)
In short, they tend to present Indian English as nothing more than "standard" English with a select collection of lexical peculiarities tacked on, as it were, many of which would be regarded as "errors" by prescriptivist language scholars.
gloss: Synonym of tack up (“to prepare a horse for riding by equipping it with a tack”).
pos: verb
gloss: To join in wedlock.
pos: verb
tags: obsolete
slang
Related words: tacky
Blu-Tack
Derived words: bartack
Blu-Tack
change of tack
coffin tack
detack
down tack
false tack
get down to brass tacks
hardtack
hold tack
on the tack
sharp as a tack
sit on a tack
switch tack
tackboard
tack claw
tacker
tackify
tackless
tacklifter
tack lifter
tack room
tacksman
tack weld
thumbtack
tie tack
tintack
untack
short-tack
retack
tack about
tack down
tack on
tack together
tack up
Translations: