tick

Etymology 1

table )]] From Middle English tyke, teke, from Old English ticia (“parasitic animal, tick”), from Proto-West Germanic *tīkō, compare Dutch teek, German Zecke.

noun

1. A tiny woodland arachnid of the suborder Ixodida.

Etymology 2

From Middle English tek (“light touch, tap”).

noun

1. A relatively quiet but sharp sound generally made repeatedly by moving machinery.
   The steady tick of the clock provided a comforting background for the conversation.
2. A mark on any scale of measurement; a unit of measurement.
   At midday, the long bond is up a tick.
3. (computing) A jiffy (unit of time defined by basic timer frequency).
4. (colloquial) A short period of time, particularly a second.
   I'll be back in a tick.
5. (video games) A periodic increment of damage or healing caused by an ongoing status effect.
6. (Australia, New Zealand, Britain, Ireland) A mark (✓) made to indicate agreement, correctness or acknowledgement.
   Indicate that you are willing to receive marketing material by putting a tick in the box
   Kate's choice to don her pink suit again now, at the height of the Barbiecore trend, shows the royal really does have her finger on the pulse. That, paired with her statement belt and the fact pearls are having a real fashion moment (courtesy of the Met Gala) is three big ticks from us. 2023-05-26, Natasha Harding, Alexandria Dale, “Kate Middleton just re-wore her Alexander McQueen baby pink trouser suit”, in Women's Health
7. (birdwatching) A bird seen (or heard) by a birdwatcher, for the first time that day, year, trip, etc., and thus added to a list of observed birds.
   There are few birders who have not had stringy ticks on their lists at some stage. 1980, Bill Oddie, Bill Oddie's Little Black Bird Book, page 76
   A twitcher's list is very democratic. Each bird counts as one tick. There are no extra points for beauty or rarity. The humble sparrow counts just as much as a Wedge-tailed Eagle or a Paradise Parrot. 2005, Sean Dooley, The Big Twitch, Sydney: Allen and Unwin, page 41
8. (ornithology) A whinchat (Saxicola rubetra).

verb

1. To make a clicking noise similar to the movement of the hands in an analog clock.
   As 2020 ticked over into 2021, some 240 worksites were active on HS2's Phase 1 route between London and the West Midlands. January 13 2021, Richard Clinnick, “HS2 reaches key milestones and gears up for a busy 2021”, in Rail, page 12
2. To make a tick or checkmark.
3. (informal, intransitive) To work or operate, especially mechanically.
   He took the computer apart to see how it ticked.
   I wonder what makes her tick.
4. To strike gently; to pat.
5. (birdwatching, transitive) To add (a bird) to a list of birds that have been seen (or heard).

Etymology 3

From Middle English tike, probably from Middle Dutch, from Latin theca (“cover”).

noun

1. (uncountable) Ticking.
2. A sheet that wraps around a mattress; the cover of a mattress, containing the filling.

Etymology 4

Clipping of ticket.

noun

1. (UK, colloquial) Credit, trust.
   Immediately he got any money he would pay his debt; if there was any over he would spend it; if there was not—and there seldom was—he would begin to go on tick again. 1903, Samuel Butler, chapter 42, in The Way of All Flesh
   He paid his mother-in-law rent and, when the baker or the butcher or the grocer wouldn't let her have any more on tick, he paid the bills. 1974, GB Edwards, The Book of Ebenezer Le Page, New York 2007, page 190

verb

1. (intransitive) To go on trust, or credit.
2. (transitive) To give tick; to trust.

Etymology 5

From Middle English tik-, tic-, tike-, tiken- (in compounds), an unassibilated form of Middle English tiche, tichen (“young goat”), from Old English tiċċen (“young goat; kid”), from Proto-West Germanic *tikkīn (“goatling”), diminutive of Proto-West Germanic *tigā (“goat”). Cognate with regional German Zicke (“nanny goat”), from Ziege (“goat; nanny goat”).

noun

1. (obsolete, place names) A goat.
   Tickhill, Tickham, Ticknock, Tickenhall Drive, Tickenhill Manor, Tickenhurst