tack

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /tæk/
• (Northern England) IPA^(key): /tak/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æk

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 *dHgʰn-, *déHgʰ- (“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”).

Tacks (used to attach thin objects to thick ones, in this case a bulletin board)

tack (countable and uncountable, plural tacks)

1. A small nail with a flat head.
   • 2012, July 15. Richard Williams in Guardian Unlimited, Tour de France 2012: Carpet tacks cannot force Bradley Wiggins off track

     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.
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.
   • 1994, Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom, Abacus 2010, p. 637:

     I thought that my refusing Barnard would alienate Botha, and decided that such a tack was too risky.

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.

    The laminate adhesive has very aggressive tack and is hard to move once in place.

12. Hardtack.
    • 1913, D. H. Lawrence, "Sons and Lovers":

      "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.
    • Bishop Burnet

      Some tacks had been made to money bills in King Charles's time.

    (Can we find and add a quotation of Macaulay to this entry?)

14. (law, Scotland) A contract by which the use of a thing is set, or let, for hire; a lease.

    (Can we find and add a quotation of Burrill to this entry?)

    • 1885: The Crofter in History by Lord Colin Campbell

      In the Breadalbane papers, for example, there is a "tack" which was given by Sir John Campbell of Glenurchy to his "weil belouit" servant John M'Conoquhy V'Gregour, in the year 1530.

15. (obsolete) Confidence; reliance.

    (Can we find and add a quotation of Halliwell to this entry?)

• (nautical maneuver): coming about

• (nail-like object for affixing thin things): thumbtack

• Blu-Tack
• hardtack
• thumbtack

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

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.

   to tack (something) onto (something)

5. Often paired with "up", to place the tack on a horse.

• (nautical: to turn the bow through the wind): to change tack

• (nautical: to turn the stern through the wind): to wear

• tacky

• Tack (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Blu-Tack

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

tack (plural tacks)

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

     So stoutly held to tack by those near North-Wales' men

tack (uncountable)

1. (colloquial) That which is tacky; something cheap and gaudy.
   • 2014, David Leffman, The Rough Guide to China

     For souvenirs – mostly outright tack and ethnicky textiles – try your bargaining skills at the shops and stalls on Binjiang Luand Zhengyang Jie, or the nightly street market spreading for about a block either side of Shanhu Bridge along Zhongshan Lu.

• ATCK

tack (plural tacks)

1. Lease, tenancy
2. The period of such a contract
3. A leasehold; especially, the tenure of a land or a farm.

From Old Norse þǫkk, from Proto-Germanic *þankō, *þankaz. Cognates include English thank, German Dank, Danish tak and Icelandic and Norwegian takk.

• IPA^(key): /tak/

• audio

  (file)

tack

1. thanks, please

tack n

1. a thank; a word which shows gratitude