tuck

Etymology 1

From Middle English tuken, touken (“to torment, to stretch (cloth)”), from Old English tūcian (“to torment, vex”) and Middle Dutch tucken (“to tuck”), both from Proto-Germanic *teuh-, *teug- (“to draw, pull”) (compare also *tukkōną), from Proto-Indo-European *dewk- (“to pull”). Akin to Old High German zucchen (“to snatch, tug”), zuchôn (“to jerk”), German Low German tuken (“to tug, pluck, grab and pull towards”), Old English tēon (“to draw, pull, train”). Doublet of touch.

verb

1. (transitive) To pull or gather up (an item of fabric).
2. (transitive) To push into a snug position; to place somewhere safe or somewhat hidden.
   Tuck in your shirt.  I tucked in the sheet.  He tucked the $10 bill into his shirt pocket.
3. (intransitive, often with "in" or "into") To eat; to consume.
4. (ergative) To fit neatly.
   The sofa tucks nicely into that corner.  Kenwood House is tucked into a corner of Hampstead Heath.
5. To curl into a ball; to fold up and hold one's legs.
   The diver tucked, flipped, and opened up at the last moment.
6. To sew folds; to make a tuck or tucks in.
   to tuck a dress
7. To full, as cloth.
8. (LGBT, of a drag queen, trans woman, etc.) To conceal one’s penis and testicles, as with a gaff or by fastening them down with adhesive tape.
   Honey, have you tucked today? We don’t wanna see anything nasty down there.
9. (when playing scales on piano keys) To keep the thumb in position while moving the rest of the hand over it to continue playing keys that are outside the thumb.
10. (aviation) Ellipsis of Mach tuck.
    Never take a first-generation Learjet past Mach 0.82; it'll tuck hard nose-down and you won't be able to pull out from the dive.

noun

1. An act of tucking; a pleat or fold.
2. (sewing) A fold in fabric that has been stitched in place from end to end, as to reduce the overall dimension of the fabric piece.
3. A curled position.
4. (medicine, surgery) A plastic surgery technique to remove excess skin.
   tummy tuck
5. (music, piano, when playing scales on piano keys) The act of keeping the thumb in position while moving the rest of the hand over it to continue playing keys that are outside the thumb.
6. (diving) A curled position, with the shins held towards the body.
7. (nautical) The afterpart of a ship, immediately under the stern or counter, where the ends of the bottom planks are collected and terminate by the tuck-rail.

Etymology 2

From Old French estoc (“rapier”), from Italian stocco (“a truncheon, a short sword”). Doublet of estoc.

noun

1. (archaic) A rapier, a sword.

Etymology 3

Compare tocsin.

noun

1. The beat of a drum.

Etymology 4

Old Occitan tuc (“uncooked”), probably from Lombardic stucki, *stucchi (“crust, fragment, piece”).

noun

1. (Britain, dated, school slang, India) Food, especially snack food.