tick
Pronunciation: (tik), [key]
— n.
- a slight, sharp, recurring click, tap, or beat, as of a clock.
- a moment or instant.
- a small dot, mark, check, or electronic signal, as used to mark off an item on a list, serve as a reminder, or call attention to something.
-
- a movement in the price of a stock, bond, or option.
- the smallest possible tick on a given exchange.
- a jumping fault consisting of a light touch of a fence with one or more feet.
- a small contrasting spot of color on the coat of a mammal or the feathers of a bird.
—v.i.
- to emit or produce a tick, like that of a clock.
- to pass as with ticks of a clock: The hours ticked by.
—v.t.
- to sound or announce by a tick or ticks: The clock ticked the minutes.
- to mark with a tick or ticks; check (usually fol. by off&hasp;); to tick off the items on the memo.
- His mistreatment of the animals really ticked me off.
- to make angry:His mistreatment of the animals really ticked me off.
- Chiefly Brit.to scold severely:The manager will tick you off if you make another mistake.
- the motive or explanation of one's behavior: The biographer failed to show what made Herbert Hoover tick.
tick
Pronunciation: (tik), [key]
— n.
- any of numerous bloodsucking arachnids of the order Acarina, including the families Ixodidae and Argasidae, somewhat larger than the related mites and having a barbed proboscis for attachment to the skin of warm-blooded vertebrates: some ticks are vectors of disease.
- See
tick
Pronunciation: (tik), [key]
— n.
- the cloth case of a mattress, pillow, etc., containing hair, feathers, or the like.
- ticking. Also called
tick
Pronunciation: (tik), [key]
— n. Chiefly Brit. Informal.
- a score or account.
- on credit or trust: We bought our telly on tick.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.