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tack

Pronunciation: /tæk/

The English word “tack” has 20 meanings listed here.

noun

  1. A small nail with a flat head.
  2. A thumbtack.
  3. A loose seam used to temporarily fasten pieces of cloth.
  4. The lower corner on the leading edge of a sail relative to the direction of the wind.
  5. A course or heading that enables a sailing vessel to head upwind.
  6. A direction or course of action, especially a new one; a method or approach to solving a problem.
  7. 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. The distance a sailing vessel runs between these maneuvers when working to windward; a board.
  9. 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.
  11. The stickiness of a compound, related to its cohesive and adhesive properties.
  12. Food generally; fare, especially of the hard bread or breadlike kind.
  13. That which is attached; a supplement; an appendix.
  14. Confidence; reliance.

verb

  1. To nail (something) with a tack (small nail with a flat head).
  2. To sew/stitch with a tack (loose seam used to temporarily fasten pieces of cloth).
  3. To weld with initial small welds to temporarily fasten in preparation for full welding.
  4. 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.
  5. To sail to windward using a series of alternate tacks across the wind.
  6. To add something as an extra item.

Etymology

From Middle English tak, takke (“hook; staple; nail”), from Old Northern French taque (“nail, pin, peg”), from Frankish *takkō (“twig, branch, shoot”), of unknown origin, but possibly from Proto-Indo-European *dHgʰ-n-, from the root *déHgʰ- (“to pinch; to tear, rip, fray”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Takke (“bough; branch; twig”), West Frisian takke (“branch”), tûk (“branch, smart, sharp”),…

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.