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Definition tack

Etymology 1

From Middle English tak, takke (“hook; staple; nail”), from Old Northern French taque (“nail, pin, peg”), probably from a Germanic source, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *takkô (“tip; point; protrusion; prong; tine; jag; spike; twig”), from Proto-Indo-European *dHg?n-, *déHg?- (“to pinch; 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

tack (countable and uncountable, plural tacks)

1. A small nail with a flat head.
2. A thumbtack.
3. (sewing) A loose seam used to temporarily fasten pieces of cloth.
4. (nautical) The lower corner on the leading edge of a sail relative to the direction of the wind.
5. (nautical) A course or heading that enables a sailing vessel to head upwind. See also reach, gybe.
6. A direction or course of action, especially a new one.
7. (nautical) 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. (nautical) The distance a sailing vessel runs between these maneuvers when working to windward; a board.
9. (nautical) 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. Any of the various equipment and accessories worn by horses in the course of their use as domesticated animals. Saddles, stirrups, bridles, halters, reins, bits, harnesses, martingales, and breastplates are all forms of horse tack.
11. (manufacturing, construction, chemistry) The stickiness of a compound, related to its cohesive and adhesive properties.
12. Food generally; fare, especially of the bread kind.
13. That which is attached; a supplement; an appendix.
14. (law, Scotland) A contract by which the use of a thing is set, or let, for hire; a lease.
15. (obsolete) Confidence; reliance.

Etymology 2

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

Verb

tack (third-person singular simple present tacks, present participle tacking, simple past and past participle tacked)

1. To nail with a tack (small nail with a flat head).
2. To sew/stich with a tack (loose seam used to temporarily fasten pieces of cloth).
3. (nautical) 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.
4. To add something as an extra item.
5. Often paired with "up", to place the tack on a horse.

Etymology 2

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

Noun

tack (plural tacks)

1. A stain; a tache.
2. (obsolete) A peculiar flavour or taint.

Etymology 3

Noun

tack (uncountable)

1. (colloquial) That which is tacky; something cheap and gaudy.

Results 381 Words with the letters TACK

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