"tick" Definition

Definitions for the word "tick" from multiple English dictionaries.

1. n.
1 slight recurring click, esp. That of a watch or clock. 2 colloq. Moment. 3 mark to denote correctness, check items in a list, etc. v. 1 (of a clock etc.) Make ticks. 2 a mark with a tick. B (often foll. By off) mark (an item) with a tick in checking. tick off colloq. Reprimand. Tick over 1 (of an engine etc.) Idle. 2 (of a person, project, etc.) Be functioning at a basic level. What makes a person tick colloq. Person''s motivation. [probably imitative]
Source: Oxford English Dictionary, 1884
2. n.
1 parasitic arachnid on the skin of dogs, cattle, etc. 2 parasitic insect on sheep and birds etc. [old english]
Source: Oxford English Dictionary, 1884
3. n.
Colloq. Credit (buy goods on tick). [apparently an abbreviation of *ticket in on the ticket]
Source: Oxford English Dictionary, 1884
4. n.
1 cover of a mattress or pillow. 2 = *ticking. [greek theke case]
Source: Oxford English Dictionary, 1884
5. slang
credit, trust. Johnson says it is a corruption of “ticket,”—tradesmen’s bills being formerly written on tickets or cards. On TICK, therefore, is equivalent to on TICKET, or on trust. In use in 1668, and before, as follows:— “No matter upon landing whether you have money or no—you may swim in twentie of their boats over the river upon TICKET.”—_Decker’s Gulls’ Hornbook_, 1609.
Source: The Slang Dictionary, 1864

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