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tick

Pronunciation: /tɪk/

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

noun

  1. A tiny woodland arachnid of the suborder Ixodida.
  2. A relatively quiet but sharp sound generally made repeatedly by moving machinery.
  3. A mark on any scale of measurement; a unit of measurement.
  4. A jiffy (unit of time defined by basic timer frequency).
  5. A short period of time, particularly a second.
  6. A periodic increment of damage or healing caused by an ongoing status effect.
  7. Each of the fixed time periods, in a tick-based game, in which players or characters may perform a set number of actions.
  8. A mark (✓) made to indicate agreement, correctness, or acknowledgement.
  9. 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.
  10. A whinchat (Saxicola rubetra).
  11. A tap or light touch.
  12. A slight speck.
  13. Ticking.
  14. A sheet that wraps around a mattress; the cover of a mattress, containing the filling.
  15. Credit, trust.

verb

  1. To make a clicking noise similar to the movement of the hands of an analog clock.
  2. To make a tick or checkmark.
  3. To work or operate, especially mechanically.
  4. To strike gently; to pat.
  5. To add (a bird) to a list of birds that have been seen (or heard).

Etymology

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

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