| 释义 |
▪ I. tack, n.1|tæk|
Forms: 4–6 tak, takk(e, 5–7 tacke, 6 take, (pl. tax), 5– tack.
[tack n.1 and v.1 go together, and are doublets of tache n.2, v.2 (q.v.), though forms in k or q are not recorded in OF., and the etymological history is obscure. For the ulterior etymology Diez compares Ger. zacken prong, MHG. zacke, Du. tak bough; so also Kluge. (The occurrence of Ir. taca, Gael. tacaid nail, tack, peg, Breton tach small nail, has suggested a Celtic origin for the root tac-, but this Thurneysen rejects.) App. most of the senses of the n., including sense 5, were derived from the vb., but the nautical senses of the vb. arose out of sense 5 of the n., and in their turn gave rise to senses 6 and 7.]
I. That which fastens or attaches, etc.
1. a. That which fastens one thing to another, or things together: applied to a fibula or clasp, a buckle, a hook or stud fitting into an eye or loop, a nail, or the like. Obs. exc. as in senses 2, 3.
13..Minor Poems fr. Vernon MS. lii. 410 He bot a bite þat made vs blak, Til fruit weore tied on treo wiþ tak; O fruit for anoþer. c1440Promp. Parv. 485/2 Takke (H., P. or botun), fibula, fixula. 1500–20Dunbar Poems lxxii. 69 Unto the crose of breid and lenth, Syne tyit him on with greit irne takkis. 1617Minsheu Ductor, A tacke or hooke, vid. Buckle, Clasp. 1670Eachard Cont. Clergy 70 The tackes put into the loops did couple the curtains of the tent, and sew the tent together. 1696Lond. Gaz. No. 3228/4 Lost.., 3 pair of black Stays,..one with black Buckles, in black Tacks and black Loops.
b. The frænum of the tongue (in a tongue-tied person).
1671Livingston Let. in Wodrow Soc. Sel. Biog. (1845) I. 247 The sight of the father's danger brake the tack of a son's tongue who was tongue-tacked from birth.
2. spec.
a. (perh. orig. short for tack-nail: see 12 a.) A small sharp-pointed nail of iron or brass, usually with a flat and comparatively large head, used for fastening a light or thin object to something more solid, especially in a slight or temporary manner, so as to admit of easy undoing.
Tacks are distinguished according to their use, as carpet-tack, one used for fixing a carpet on the floor; their action, as thumb-tack, one pushed in with the thumb, as a drawing-pin; their material, as brass tack, iron tack, tin-tack. Also in colloq. phr. to come (or get) down to brass tacks: see brass n. 5 b; see also tin-tack b.
[1463, etc.: see tack-nail in 12 a.] 1574in Feuillerat Revels Q. Eliz. (1908) 237 Tackes One Thowsand. a1585Polwart Flyting w. Montgomerie 558 His lugs..That to the Tron hes tane so many a tacke. 1601Holland Pliny xxxiv. xiv. 514 Yron..for nailes, studs, and tackes, emploied about greeves and leg-harneis. 1688R. Holme Armoury iii. 292/1 Two sorts of tacks used by [shoemakers], the Sole Tack..and the Heel Tack. 1703Moxon Mech. Exerc. 53 Drive in a small Tack on each side. 1745P. Thomas Jrnl. Anson's Voy. 259 The Scale..is made of Bambo, the Divisions distinguished by small Brass Tacks. 1851D. Jerrold St. Giles xvi. 168 At his work, driving tin tacks into a baby's coffin.
b. (See quot.)
1847–78Halliwell s.v., A wooden peg for hanging dresses on is sometimes called a tack.
3. Technical uses.
a. Gardening. A fastening for shoots, etc., consisting of a strip or band secured at each end to a wall or the like.
b. Plumbing. A strip of lead having one end soldered to a pipe, and the other fastened to a wall or support.
c. Basket-Making. A size of willow rod, usu. 3 ft. long.
1545Rates of Customs a vj, Corke takkes the thousande x.s. 1615W. Lawson Country Housew. Gard. (1626) 7 To plant Apricockes, Cheries, and Peaches, by a wall, and with tacks, and other meanes to spread them vpon, and fasten them to a wall. 1658Evelyn Fr. Gard. (1675) 34 They do extreamly ill, when they fagot, and bundle together a great many small twiggs, in one tack. 1693― De la Quint. Compl. Gard. II. 41. 1823 P. Nicholson Pract. Build. 408 Two broad pieces of lead, called tacks, are attached to the back lap-joints and spread out, right and left, for fastening the [socket] pipes to the wall by means of wall-hooks of iron. 1877S. S. Hellyer Plumber ii. 33 When there are no chases, and the pipes are fixed on tacks, the tacks should be strong. 1912T. Okey Art of Basket-Making ii. 6 White and buff rods are sorted into tacks from 2 ft. 6 in. or 3 ft. to 3 ft. 6 in. 1953[see long-small s.v. long a.1 A. 18]. 1961L. G. Allbon Basic Basketry ii. 11 Willow is sold by the bolt... The rods are sorted..on the farm into lengths... Local usage often gives special names to the sizes.., such as Tack or Short Smalls (3 ft.), Smalls (4 ft.),..and so on. 1973B. Maynard Mod. Basketry from Start 171 Tacks, term used for 3 ft willow rods.
4. a. An act of tacking or fastening together, now esp. in a slight or temporary way; a stitch, esp. a long slight stitch used in fastening seams, etc., preparatory to the permanent sewing; a very slight fastening or tie, by which a thing is loosely held, as hanging by a tack.
1705Vanbrugh Confed. v. ii, If dear mother will give us her blessing, the parson shall give us a tack [cf. tack v.1 1 c]. 1808Jamieson s.v., It hings by a tack, it has a very slight hold. 1878Dickinson Cumbld. Gloss., Teck, Tack, a stitch, ‘A teck i' time seavvs nine’. Mod. Give it a tack, to hold it together until there is time to stitch it.
b. Adhesiveness, tackiness; esp. in Bookbinding, ‘a slight stickiness remaining in leather before the varnish or dressing is quite dry’ (C. Davenport).
1908Academy 11 Apr. 656/1 It is very cunningly reproduced, even to the extent of a suggestion of a slight ‘tack’ belonging to old leather.
II. Nautical and derived senses. (Sense 5 is a special application of 1, and is the origin of sense 7 of the vb., whence again comes sense 6 here.)
5. a. A rope, wire, or chain and hook, used to secure to the ship's side the windward clews or corners of the courses (lower square sails) of a sailing ship when sailing close hauled on a wind; also the rope, wire, or lashing used to secure amidships the windward lower end of a fore-and-aft sail.
to bring, get, haul, or put the tacks aboard (= to the board), to haul the tacks into such a position as to trim the sails to the wind, to set sail. to bring or have the starboard or port tacks aboard, to set the sails to, or sail with, the wind on the side mentioned. Also transf. used allusively in reference to travelling by land.
1481–90Howard Househ. Bks. (Roxb.) 111 My Lord paid him for iij. hausers, a peir takkes, a ratling line for Chewdes..xv.s. 1486Naval Accts. Hen. VII (1896) 13 A payre of takkes & a payr of shets weying dccxlj lb. 1582L. Ward in Hakluyt Voy. III. 757 Wee brought our tacks aboord, and stoode along West by North and West larboord tacked. 1611Cotgr., Coytes, Tackes; great Ropes vsed about the (maine) sayle of a ship. 1626Capt. Smith Accid. Yng. Seamen 28 The wind veares, git your star-boord tacks aboord. 1627― Seaman's Gram. v. 23 Tackes are great ropes which hauing a wall-knot at one end seased into the clew of the saile, and so reeued first thorow the chestres, and then commeth in at a hole in the ships sides, this doth carry forward the clew of the saile to make it stand close by a wind. 1688J. Clayton in Phil. Trans. XVII. 984 They must there bring the contrary Tack on Board [i.e. to put the vessel on the other tack]. 1747Gentl. Mag. 521 The wind shifted 3 or 4 points, which obliged us to tack, and make more sail, by hauling our main tack on board. 1825H. B. Gascoigne Nav. Fame 52 To set each Course the Tacks they Haul on Board, Then drag the Sheets aft, as they can afford. 1846Young Naut. Dict., The tack of a fore and aft sail is the rope which keeps down its lower forward clue; and of a studding sail that which keeps down its lower outer clue. The tack of a lower studding⁓sail is called the Out-Haul.
transf.1780S. Curwen Jrnl. & Lett. 22 June (1864) 277 Discouraged from proceeding further by water,..and taking, as the sailors phrase it, our London tack on board, [we] proceeded the next stage of fifteen miles. 1820A. Gifford MS. Acc. 7 Sept., We took our land tacks on board of our waggon, and directed our course west souwest for New London.
b. The lower windward corner of a sail, to which the tack (rope or chain) is attached.
1769Falconer Dict. Marine (1789), Aboard main tack! the order to draw the main-tack, i.e. the lower corner of the main-sail, down to the chess-tree. 1851Kipping Sailmaking (ed. 2) 5 In all triangular sails and in those four-sided sails wherein the head is not parallel to the foot, the foremost corner at the foot is called the tack. 1904F. T. Bullen Creatures of Sea xvii. 232 The peak of the sail is dropped and the tack hoisted; in sea parlance, the sail is ‘scandalised’.
†c. tack of a flag: see quot. Obs.
1794Rigging & Seamanship I. 176 Tack of a Flag, a line spliced into the eye at the bottom of the tabling, for securing the flag to the haliard.
6. a. An act of tacking (tack v.1 7); hence, the direction given to a ship's course by tacking; the course of a ship in relation to the direction of the wind and the position of her sails; a course or movement obliquely opposed to the direction of the wind; one of a consecutive series of such movements to one side and the other alternately made by a sailing vessel, in order to reach a point to windward.
A ship is said to be on the starboard or port tack as the wind comes from starboard or port. At each change of tack, the relative positions of the tack and sheet of the courses are reversed.
1614Sir R. Dudley in Fortesc. Papers (Camden) 9 Being fare more swyfte then the gallie..(espetiallye uppon a tacke). 1666Pepys Diary 4 July, Even one of our flag-men in the fleete did not know which tacke lost the wind, or which kept it, in this last engagement. 1676Lond. Gaz. No. 1108/1 Their Admiral was lost by accident, or rather neglect of the Seamen, who omitting upon a Tack to fasten the Guns, they run all to one side, and over-set the ship. 1694Narborough, etc., in Acc. Sev. Late Voy. i. 165 Before the Ship could Ware and bring to upon the other Tack, She struck. 1749Capt. Standige in Naval Chron. III. 207 We kept working the Ship in the wind's eye, tack and tack. 1779King Cook's Voy. Pacific vi. ix. (1785) III. 418 During the afternoon, we kept standing on our tacks, between the island of Potoe, and the Grand Ladrone. 1804W. Layman in Nicolas Disp. Nelson (1845) V. 496 Turning to the West⁓ward, against the wind, some tacks do not exceed one mile. 1836Marryat Midsh. Easy xiii, That they should make short tacks with her, to weather the point. 1885Law Times Rep. LIII. 54/1 The J. M. Stevens was proceeding under all sail close-hauled on the port tack.
b. fig. and transf. A zigzag course on land.
1788J. May Jrnl. & Lett. (1873) 31, I..advanced as fast as possible to finish my land tacks. 1813Salem Gaz. 22 Oct. 3/2 Saw 2 four horse wagons, standing abreast, upon their larboard tacks, head towards us. 1854J. L. Stephens Centr. Amer. 363, I could not walk, so I beat up making the best tacks I could, and stopping every time I put about. 1893Q. [Couch] Delect. Duchy 305 Bontigo's Van..scaling the acclivity..in a series of short tacks.
7. fig.
a. A course or line of conduct or action; implying change or difference from some preceding or other course.
1675V. Alsop Anti-Sozzo i. 29 No man more reall when he offers an Injury, nor more complemental in his Courtesies; for he's just now standing upon a Tack. 1697Collier Ess. Mor. Subj. ii. (1709) 72 His Business will be to follow the Loudest Cry, and make his Tack with the Wind. 1795Burke Let. to Ld. Auckland Wks. IX. Pref. 22 Through our publick life, we have generally sailed on somewhat different tacks. 1811T. Creevey in Cr. Papers (1904) I. vii. 140 They are upon a new tack in consulting publick opinion. 1901Scotsman 8 Mar. 6/5 The bill..seemed to proceed upon the wrong tack.
b. A circuitous course of conduct.
1869Ballantyne Deanhaugh 117 (E.D.D.) Your nephew..canna be up to sae mony shifts an' tacks as you.
III. That which is tacked on or appended.
8. a. Something tacked on or attached as an addition or rider; an addendum, supplement, appendix; spec. in parliamentary usage, a clause relating to some extraneous matter, appended, in order to secure its passing, to a bill, esp. a bill of supply.
1705in Hearne Collect. 10 Oct. (O.H.S.) I. 54 All the World's a general Tack Of one thing to another. Why then about one Honest Tack Do Fools make such a Pother? 1712Swift Jrnl. to Stella 10 May, The parliament will hardly be up till June. We were like to be undone some days ago with a tack. a1715Burnet Own Time vii. (1823) V. 177 Some tacks had been made to money-bills in king Charles's time. 1768Ld. Hillsborough in North Car. Col. Rec. VII. 868 Appointed by a Law..especially passed for that purpose, and not by way of Tack to a Law for other purposes. 1787Minor i. xiv. 52 My mother to this added the following tack. 1879W. Minto Defoe v. 64 The Lords refused to pass the Money Bill till the tack was withdrawn.
b. tack-on: the act of tacking something on, or that which is tacked on or added. colloq.
1905Outlook 11 Nov. 664/1 She has not the passion for a tack-on which is general in this country.
9. dial. (some doubtfully belonging here).
a. A hanging shelf: see quot. 1847–78.
b. Each of the two nibs or handles of a scythe.
c. Coal-mining. A temporary prop or scaffold: see quots.
a.1446Yatton Churchw. Acc. (Som. Rec. Soc.) 85 It. y payde to Hurneman for ij takys vd. c1730J. Poynter Dorset Voc. in N. & Q. 6th Ser. VIII. 45/2 A tack, a shelf. 1847–78Halliwell, Tack,..a shelf. A kind of shelf made of crossed bars of wood suspended from the ceiling, on which to put bacon, &c. 1862T. Hughes in Macm. Mag. V. 246/1 An ther wur beacon upon rack An plates to yet it upon tack.
b.a1825Forby Voc. E. Anglia, Tack,..the handle of a sithe. 1892P. H. Emerson Son of Fens 131 Some on 'em fitting new sticks to the scythes, some on 'em putting in tacks.
c.1849Greenwell Coal-trade Terms Northumb. & Durh., Tack, a small prop of coal, sometimes left..to support it until the kirving is finished, except knocking out the tack. 1883Gresley Coal Mining Gloss., Tack,..(Som[erset].) A wooden scaffold put into a pit-shaft for temporary purposes.
IV. As a quality.
10. a. Hold; holding quality; adherence, endurance, stability, strength, substance, solidity. Now dial.
1412–20Lydg. Chron. Troy ii. 1868 Who þat geynstryueth schal haue litel tak. c1425Cast. Persev. 2987 in Macro Plays 166 Tresor, tresor, it hathe no tak. 1573Tusser Husb. (1878) 168 What tacke in a pudding, saith greedie gut wringer. 1583Golding Calvin on Deut. lxvi. 404 There will neuer bee any holde or tacke in it. 1651–66Caryl Expos. Job xxii. 25 (1676) 2255 He should find..that there was tack in it, that it was solid silver, or silver that had strength in it. 1884Cheshire Gloss., Tack,..hold, confidence, reliance. There is no tack in such a one, he is not to be trusted.
b. Adhesive quality, stickiness: cf. tacky a. Used esp. in Printing.
18..Gilder's Man. 28 (Cent. Dict.) Let your work stand until so dry as only to have sufficient tack to hold your leaf. 1939Printing Feb. 27/1 Where excess tack is attributed to these rollers, it is frequently found that the complainant is..referring to natural rubber rollers rather than synthetics. 1967E. Chambers Photolitho-Offset xvi. 243 Ink of low tack fills in shadow areas more readily, whilst high tack may pull the surface of a coated paper, if the separation is quick. 1971Engineering Apr. 17/1 A suitable adhesive..to give a reasonable tack. 1972Physics Bull. Nov. 665/3 Tack, with prepreg materials, the degree of stickiness of the resin. 1979G. A. Glaister Gloss. Bk. (ed. 2) 469/1 If an ink has insufficient tack it will not print sharply.
†11. Phrases.
a. to hold, rarely have, tack with (to), to hold one's own with, hold one's ground with, keep up with; to be even with or equal to; to match. Obs.
1412–20Lydg. Chron. Troy i. 4259 Here lith on ded, þer a-noþer wounded, So þat þei myȝt with them haue no tak. a1518Skelton Magnyf. 2084 A thousande pounde with Lyberte may holde no tacke. 1600W. Watson Decacordon (1602) 71 Secular Priests, whom no English Iesuit is able to hold tacke withall. 1652Urquhart Jewel Wks. (1834) 227 The incomparable Crichtoun had..held tack to all the disputants. 1658J. Harrington Prerog. Pop. Govt. i. xii. Wks. (1700) 317 Fourteen Years had their Commonwealth held tack with the Romans, in Courage, Conduct, and Virtue. c1695in Curwen Hist. Booksellers (1873) 29 To make the parallel hold tack, Methinks there's little lacking.
†b. to hold (a person, etc.) tack (to tack): to be a match for; to hold at bay. Obs.
1555W. Watreman Fardle Facions ii. vi. 150 Thei [Parthians] helde the Romaines suche tacke, that in sondrie warres they gaue them great ouerthrowes. 1606Sir G. Goosecappe iii. i, I am sure our Ladies hold our Lords tacke for Courtship, and yet the French Lords put them downe. 1612Drayton Poly-olb. xi. 48 Faire Chester, call'd of old Carelegion,..the faithfull station then, So stoutly held to tack by those neere North-Wales men. 1615Hoby Curry-combe i. 3 As if I haue not a good dish of Oysters, and a cold pye at home to hold you tacke. 1706S. Centlivre Basset-Table ii. Wks. (1723) 221 Ay, give me the woman that can hold me tack in my own dialect. a1825Forby Voc. E. Anglia s.v. Hold, Phr. ‘to hold one tack’, to keep him close to the point.
†c. to bear, hold tack, to be substantial, strong, or lasting; to hold out, endure, hold one's own.
1573Tusser Husb. (1878) 28 And Martilmas beefe doth beare good tack, when countrie folke doe dainties lack. 1600W. Watson Decacordon (1602) 164 It serueth to hold tacke, till by inuasion or otherwise the Iesuits may worke their feate. 1663Butler Hud. i. iii. 277 If this twig be made of Wood That will hold tack. 1673R. Head Canting Acad. 19 With good Milk pottage I held tack.
†d. to hold, keep tack, stand to tack: see quots.
1611Cotgr., Ester à vne chose convenuë, to keepe touch; hold tacke, stand to a bargaine. 1686F. Spence tr. Varillas' Ho. Medicis 305 The correspondence he had in that place not keeping tack at the time prefixt.
†e. to be half tack with: (?) to be midway between in position or quality. Obs.
1567J. Maplet Gr. Forest 60 Reede is halfe tack with the Herbe and tree, but in force or growth, aboue the Herbe. And nothing in strength to the tree his comparison.
V.
12. attrib. and Comb. a. in sense 2: tack-claw, -extractor, -lifter, -puller, a tool for extracting tacks or small nails from a carpet, etc.; tack-comb, a row of tacks cast in the form of a hair-comb for use in a shoe-making machine; tack-driver, a machine which automatically places and drives a series of tacks; also = tack-hammer; tack-hammer , a light hammer for driving tacks; also as v. trans.; tack-mill, a factory for making tacks; † tack-nail, a tack, tacket, or hob-nail; tack-rivet, a small metal rivet; tack work: see quot.
1865Atlantic Monthly June 736/2 If she absolutely cannot get a *tack-hammer with a claw on one end, she can take up carpet-nails with an iron spoon. 1889Talmage in Voice (N.Y.) 28 Feb., Much [church work] amounts to..a tack-hammer smiting the Gibraltar. 1890‘R. Boldrewood’ Miner's Right (1899) 11 Which made the heavy tool tremble in my grasp like a tack hammer. 1908Kipling Bk. of Words (1928) 36 The meanest collection of packing-cases that was ever tack-hammered together.
1858Simmonds Dict. Trade, *Tack-lifter, a tool for taking up tacks from carpets on a floor.
1884H. D. Lloyd in N. Amer. Rev. June 546 The *tack-mills in the combination run about three days in the week.
1463in Rogers Agric. & Pr. III. 556/3, 1 c. *taknail 4d. 1519W. Horman Vulg. 237 Set some tacke naylis or racke naylis arowe. 1591Percivall Sp. Dict., Broca, a shooemakers tacke naile.
1874Thearle Naval Archit. 71 The side plates, or bars, are connected to the vertical plate by..small rivets, termed ‘*tack rivets’.
1879C. Hibbs in Cassell's Techn. Educ. IV. 299/2 ‘*Tack work’, which means brass-headed nails, hooks, sash and drawer knobs, and little things of that sort.
b. in sense 5: tack-block, tack-earing, tack-end, tack-lashing, tack-piece (see quot.), -tackle; tack-pins, belaying pins of the fife-rail (Smyth Sailor's Word-bk. 1867).
1777Cook Voy. iii. ii. II. 17 When they change tacks they throw the vessel up in the wind, ease off the sheet, and bring the heel or *tack-end of the yard to the other end of the boat, and the sheet in like manner. 1865Macgregor Rob Roy in Baltic (1867) 296 The tack end of the boom is made fast to the mast by a flat piece of leather.
1711W. Sutherland Shipbuild. Assist. 164 *Tack-piece, that to which the Fore-sail is tack'd down.
1769Falconer Dict. Marine (1776), *Tack-tackle, a small tackle used occasionally to pull down the tack of the principal sails of a ship to their respective stations. 1882Nares Seamanship (ed. 6) 82 Tack tackle..a tackle from the tack of the spanker to the deck.
c. in sense 4: tack weld v. trans., to join (materials) at intervals with provisional welds in order to hold them in position for subsequent work; hence as n.
1919Chambers's Jrnl. Jan. 60/2 Up the sides the seams were only welded at intervals, or ‘tack welded’, as it is called. 1950B. R. Hilton Welding Design ii. 42 If tack welds are not to be removed as the welding proceeds, their section should be equivalent to that of the first weld run. 1964S. Crawford Basic Engin. Processes iii. 82 A tack weld is made by applying the flame to the metal until it melts and then adding a little welding rod. 1979Financial Times 22 Jan. 9/7 The top is tack welded, then the bottom, followed by the sides. Clamps and devices are removed and the weld completed.
d. in sense 10: tack coat (see quot. 1954); tack rag U.S., an impregnated cloth used for cleaning a surface prior to painting or varnishing.
1949Sun (Baltimore) 17 Oct. 26/3 Workmen spread a ‘tack coat’ of asphalt on the old pavement. 1954Gloss. Highway Engin. Terms (B.S.I.) 28 Tack coat, a coat of liquid (such as bitumen, road tar, or an emulsion thereof) applied as a thin film to a surface to improve the adhesion of a course laid thereon. 1979Civil Engin. Nov. 27/1 The painting on of a grid of levels on the tack coat by engineers.
1958Washington Post 16 Aug. b 3/6 So-called ‘tack’ rags are used in factories where dust particles are likely to mar freshly painted surfaces. 1979P. Wallage Restoration Post-W.W. II Cars ii. 25/2 Go over it with a tack rag.
▪ II. tack, n.2 Chiefly Sc. and north. Eng.|tæk|
Forms: 4–6 tak, 5–6 takk (pl. tax), 6–8 tacke, 6– tack.
[f. tac, tak, take v.; cf. take n.; also ON. tak taking, seizure, etc., taka a taking, seizure, capture, revenue, tenure (Vigf.), OSw. tak taking, hold, taka man collector.]
I.
†1. A customary payment levied by a ruler, feudal superior, or corporation. Obs.
a1300Cursor M. 28438 Toll and tak, and rent o syse, Withalden i haue wit couettise. 1564Reg. Privy Council Scot. I. 295 To mak and deliver to the saidis Margaret and Alexander infeftmentis of the saidis landis..likwyise..in all pointis without takkis. a1578Lindesay (Pitscottie) Chron. Scot. (S.T.S.) I. 322 He dressit the said bischope..for certaine teindis and tax that the bischope gaif him.
2. Tenure or tenancy, of land, benefice, etc.: esp. leasehold tenure, e.g. of a farm, mill, or the like; the period of tenure. Sc. and north. Eng. (Cf. ON. taka tenure (of land).)
1423Charters, etc. of Edinb. (1871) 55 To have thair corne grundin at the saide millis..durand the saide tak. 1424Coldstream Chartul. (1879) 43 Ye said priores and ye conuent sal enter in ye tak of ye said land at Qwitsonday. 1449Sc. Acts Jas. II (1814) II. 35 Suppos the lordis sel or analy þai landis þt þe takaris sall remayne with þare takis, on to þe ische of þare termes. 1526Lanc. Wills (Chetham Soc.) I. 15, I will that Dorothe my wyff shall have all such takks leysses and graunts as I now have by the graunts of the Abbot of Qhalley. 1571Plowden Reports 169 b, Cesty qe prist lease pur ans dun ferme en le Northe paiz, appelle ceo Tacke. 1671in Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot. (1892) XXVI. 194 We..Stewart Principall Justiciare and Admirall of Orknay and Zetland, having power be vertue of my tack therof to nominat and appoynt bailyies [etc.]. 1701J. Law Counc. Trade (1751) 40 That the present farm or tack of the customs be broken, and that the said impositions of foreign excise and entry-money may never hereafter be leased out, or let to farm. 1885J. G. Bertram in Brit. Alm. Comp. 77 The ‘tack’ [of a deer forest] may be for a period of years, or it may be for ‘the season’. 1887S. Chesh. Gloss. s.v., ‘It's the best tack as ever I seid’,..i.e. the farm in question was taken on the best conditions.
b. Sometimes more or less concretely: A leasehold tenement, a farm. Sc.
c1470Henryson Mor. Fab. xii. (Wolf & Lamb) xviii, How durst thow tak on hand..To put him fra his tak, and gar him thig? 1508Kennedie Flyting w. Dunbar 365 Thow has a tome purs, I haue stedis and takkis. 15..Dunbar Poems xvii. 21 Sum takis vthir menis takkis. 1515in Fam. Rose Kilravock (Spalding Club) 185 Aucht oxin to pleyns ane tak.
c. fig. A period, a spell (of some condition). Sc. Cf. ‘lease’ of life, etc.
a1758Ramsay Masque 189 Thou'lt grant them a lang tack of bliss. 1821Galt Ann. Parish xii, There came on a sudden frost, after a tack of wet weather. 1887Service Dr. Duguid xxi. 138 We had a lang tack of very wat weather.
3. transf. An agreement or compact. Sc.
(Cf. prec. 11 d.)
a1758Ramsay Clout the Caldron iv, I've a tinkler under tack, That's us'd to clout my caldron. 1786Burns Earnest Cry & Prayer vi, In gath'rin' votes you were na slack; Now stand as tightly by your tack.
4. Pasture for cattle let on hire. dial.
1804–12Duncumb Hist. Heref. I. 214 A tack, grass or clover for horses and cattle, hired by the week, month, or quarter. 1863Morton Cycl. Agric., Tack, hired pasturage. 1873Berrow's Worcester Jrnl. Apr. (E.D.D.), Horses or horned cattle will be taken into Westwood Park to tack or ley. 1877Birmingham Weekly Post 22 Dec. 1/1 It is..a common expression where a farmer turns his cattle out on the lands of another to say they are out at ‘tack’. 1879–81G. F. Jackson Shropsh. Word-bk. s.v., ‘Yo'n got a power o' stock fur yore farm’...‘ Aye, I mus' get some out on tack’.
II.
5. A take of fish; a catch, draught, haul: = take n. 5. Also fig. Sc. and north. Eng.
1596Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. I. 40 Gif in ony place quhair a tak of herring is..ony scheding of manis blude aryse..thay ar said to abhor frome that place. 1597Skene De Verb. Sign. s.v. Assisa, An thousand herring of ilk tack that halds. 1678W. Adams Dedham Pulpit 68 Whence a great tack of souls to Christ hath followed. 1772Hartford Merc., Suppl. 18 Sept. 3/2 There is at present the finest tack of herrings ever known, which are now selling on the shore at sixteen-pence the hundred. 1888Van Hare Fifty Years Showman's Life 2 When they draw their net it's called a tack; if there are plenty of fish in the net they call it a good tack, or if there are very few fish they call it a bad tack.
III. 6. attrib. and Comb., as tack-duty, the rent reserved on a lease; the rent paid by a tacksman or farmer of the customs; tack-money, payment for pannage or pasture; † tack-swine, hogs paid in rent; tack-work: see quot.
1680(Dec. 23) St. Andrew's Town Council Minute-bk. 86 Impouring him quarterlie to receave from the taxsmen of Costomes the *tak deutie payable for the saidis Costomes. a1722Fountainhall Decis. (1759) I. 8 Had he not paid the tack-duty for tiends and all. 1809Tomlins Jacob's Law Dict., Tack-Duty, the rent reserved on a lease. 1876Grant Burgh Sch. Scotl. ii. xiv. 457 In 1680 the council of St. Andrews allocated the tack duties of the customs of the city towards paying the schoolmaster's stipend.
1688R. Holme Armoury iii. 75/1 An Agistor, is an Officer of the Forest, that takes in to Feed the Cattel of Strangers, and receives for the Kings use all such *Tack-Money as becomes due from those Strangers.
1523Fitzherb. Surv. viii. 8 Where as the tenauntes pay *tacke swyne by custome,..or a halfpeny for euery swyne, as the custome is vsed.
1879–81G. F. Jackson Shropsh. Word-bk., *Tack-work, work done by contract.
▪ III. tack, n.3 Obs. or dial.
[Origin uncertain; in sense 1, it appears to be a doublet of tache n.1; cf. Picard taque = Fr. tache spot; but cf. also F. tac ‘a kind of rot among sheepe; also, a Plague-spot’ (Cotgr.), which Hatz.-Darm. think possibly borrowed from L. tactus found in the sense of infection, contagious disease. Sense 2 is possibly transf. from 1, but may be of different origin.]
†1. A spot, a stain; a blemish; = tache n.1 1, 2.
c1425Cast. Persev. 2178 in Macro Plays 142 In sory synne had he no tak & ȝyt for synne he bled blody ble. a1603T. Cartwright Confut. Rhem. N.T. (1618) 467 The witnesse of the other hath often a wrest and tacke of her corruption.
2. A smack, taste, or flavour (of something); esp. an alien, peculiar, or ill flavour; = tache n.1 2 c. Also fig.
1602R. T. Five Godlie Serm. 146 Superstitious ceremonies, without anie smacke or tacke of anie sound Christian doctrine. 1611Cotgr. s.v. Piquer, Le poisson pique, begins to haue a tacke, or ill tast. 1622Drayton Poly-olb. xix. 130 Or cheese which our fat soil to every quarter sends, Whose tack the hungry clown and plow-man so commends. 1868Atkinson Cleveland Gloss. s.v., If two articles of food are cooked together, and the stronger flavoured one communicates a taste to the other, it is said to ‘have a tak o' t'ither’. 1884Cheshire Gloss. s.v., Ale which has been put into a musty cask is said to have a tack, or a tack of the cask.
▪ IV. † tack, n.4 Obs. rare.
[Origin uncertain.]
A billiard-cue: see quot. 1688.
1688R. Holme Armoury iii. 262/1 On each side [the billiard table] standeth a Man with a Tack in his hand, to push the Ball into an Hassard, or Hole. Ibid. xvi. (Roxb.) 69/1 In the base of this quarter, is the figure of the Tack or a Stick used at the Billiard table for the strikeing of an Ivory ball. 1826J. O'Keefe Recollections I. vii. 268 The young nobleman..when he was the striker, took the nicest pains to place his tack in such a manner, that to hold his adversary's ball seemed a matter of course.
▪ V. tack, n.5
[Origin obscure: perh. from tack n.1 10; but cf. also tackle n. sense 8.]
Foodstuff; chiefly in hard-tack, ship's biscuit, soft-tack; also gen. stuff, often in depreciatory sense. Cf. tackle n. 8.
1833Marryat P. Simple xxviii, The..steward..came back with a basket of soft-tack, i.e. loaves of bread. 1841Lever C. O'Malley lxxxviii, No more hard tack thought I, no salt butter. 1864Daily Tel. 5 Nov., Horses stopped to graze, and the men..began quietly munching a hard tack. 1889D. C. Murray Dang. Catspaw 129 He knows Lord Byron from beginning to end, but his head's that full of that kind of tack there's no room for anything else. 1894― Making of Novelist 42, I thought the canteen tack the nastiest stuff I had ever tasted.
▪ VI. tack, n.6 rare.
[Echoic. Cf. tack n., clap, tack vb., to slap, clap, in Eng. Dial. Dict.; F. tac in tac-au-tac.]
The sound of a smart stroke.
1821Scott Kenilw. x, Now, hush and listen,..you will soon hear the tack of a hammer.
▪ VII. tack, n.7
Abbrev. of tackle n. †a. In sense 1. dial. Obs.
1777in Eng. Dial. Dict. (1905) VI. 3/2. 1879 G. F. Jackson Shropshire Word-bk. 428 My tacks bin at Newport, or I'd soon ketch them rots. 1893J. Salisbury Gloss. Words & Phr. S.E. Worcs. 41 Tack,..a collection of tools; a razor-grinder's machine is his tack; a smith's box of tools for shoeing horses is his ‘shoeing tack’.
b. In sense 6. Also Comb., as tack room.
1924I. Maddison Riding Astride for Girls xiv. 226, I will now give a few hints on tack..in the show ring. The tack on a saddle-horse should be as light as possible. 1933A. Blewitt Ponies & Children iii. 34 Any prize rosettes they win are stuck up on their tack-room wall. 1940Evening Sun (Baltimore) 15 Apr. 21/4 Tack is the name for a rider's equipment—saddle, whip, boots, etc., apparently derived from tackle. 1950J. Cannan Murder Included iv. 65 Patricia..was cleaning tack in the stable. 1964D. Francis Nerve xi. 147 It was a tack-room. Every stable has one..the place where the saddles and bridles are kept. 1975F. Kennedy Alberta was my Beat ix. 111 He stood there like a broke saddle horse as we put the tack on him. 1979J. Johnston Old Jest 100 There was a boy who kept the tack, polished the lovely shiny boots. There was a smell of saddle soap and horse dung. The saddles are flaking now, out in the damp tack room.
▪ VIII. tack, n.8
U.S. colloq. abbrev of tachograph, tachometer. Cf. tach, tacho.
1963Amer. Speech XXXVIII. 46 Tack,..the device in the cab which automatically records miles driven, number of stops, speed, and so on, during a trip; short for tachometer. 1971M. Tak Truck Talk 162 Tack, short for tachometer or tachograph.
▪ IX. tack, n.9 colloq.|tæk|
[Back-formation f. tacky a.]
That which is ‘tacky’ or cheap and shabby; shoddy or gaudy material; rubbish, junk.
1986Video Today Apr. 33/4 Any interest in this sordid tack lies in the role it plays in Cohen's regression since the days of The Terminator. 1988Arena Autumn–Winter 198/1 The king of cinematic trash and tack turns his attentions to the written word. 1990Sounds 3 Feb. 20/2 Queen B are pretty much an exercise in traditional tack, a celebration of all things glittery.
▪ X. tack, v.1
[Doublet of tache v.2; cf. tack n.1]
I. To attach.
†1.
a. trans. To attach, fasten (one thing to another, or things together). Obs. except as in 3.
1387Trevisa Higden (Rolls) III. 173 He..made hem sprede and takkede þe skyn aboute þe chayer [orig. sellæ judiciariæ circumponi] þere þe iuge schulde sitte in plee forto deme. c1400Brut 103 Kyng Alurede hade þat boke in his warde, and..lete hit faste bene tackede to a piler, þat men myȝt hit nouȝt remeve. 1483Act 1 Rich III, c. 8 §16 Without tacking or sowing of any Bulrushes..upon the Lists of the same. 1530Palsgr. 746/1 Tacke it faste with a nayle. a1616Beaum. & Fl. Scornf. Lady ii. iii, Peace, or I'le tack your tongue up to your roof. 1696Bp. Patrick Comm. Exod. xxvi. (1697) 506 The Loops were..tackt to the Selvage of the outermost of them. 1713Steele Englishm. No. 26. 172 He dried and tacked together the Skins of Goats. 1843Le Fevre Life Trav. Phys. II. i. xviii. 153 We often tacked on twelve horses to a small vehicle.
b. transf. and fig. To attach.
a1533Ld. Berners Gold. Bk. M. Aurel. xliii. (1535) 83 b, Al the vnderstandynges are tacked to one free wyll. 1653tr. Hales' Dissert. de pace in Phenix (1708) II. 376 The Fathers did, with ingenious comments, tack the mysteries of their philosophy to the Word of God. 1695Prior Taking Namur ix, With Eke's and Also's tack thy Strain, Great Bard. 1791Gilpin Forest Scenery ii. 187 He who works without taste..tacks one part to another, as his misguided fancy suggests.
†c. To join in wedlock. Obs. slang.
1732Fielding Debauchees iii. xiv, We will employ this honest gentleman here, to tack our son and daughter together. 1775Sheridan Duenna iii. iv, I' faith, he must tack me first; my love is waiting. 1821Sporting Mag. VIII. 105 A Curate..Had brought to the altar a pair to be tack'd.
†2. To connect or join by an intervening part.
1639Fuller Holy War ii. xii. (1840) 65 It [Tyre]..was tacked to the continent with a small neck of land. 1645Evelyn Diary June, The numberless Islands tacked together by no fewer than 450 bridges. 1762–71H. Walpole Vertue's Anecd. Paint. (1786) I. 186 They..have tacked the wings to a house by a colonade.
3. a. To attach in a slight or temporary manner; esp. to attach with tacks (short nails or slight stitches), which can be easily taken out.
c1440Promp. Parv. 485/2 Takkyn', or some what sowyn' to-gedur,..consutulo. 1642Fuller Holy & Prof. St. iii. x. 175 If agitation..jog that out of thy head, which was there rather tack'd then fastned. 1696J. F. Merchant's Wareho. 8 The Hamborough is rowled up very hard, and either tacked with Thred, or tyed about with Tape. 1703Moxon Mech. Exerc. 53 Drive in a small Tack on each side..or you may Tack down two small thin boards on either side. 1830in Cobbett Rur. Rides (1885) II. 348 The wretched boards tacked together, to serve for a table. 1853Kane Grinnell Exp. xxxiii. (1856) 295, I copy the play-bill from the original..tacked against the main-mast. 1894Times 3 Mar. 11/3 He had ‘tacked’ the cloth down to the stage. 1896Allbutt's Syst. Med. I. 434 They [jackets] are lined with a layer of cotton-wool neatly tacked in. Mod. The sleeves are tacked in to try how they fit.
b. spec. † (a) Gardening. To fasten with tacks (tack n.1 3 a). Obs.
1693J. Evelyn De la Quint. Compl. Gard. II. 41 In Tacking for the first time after the Pruning.
(b) Metal-working. To keep (a metal plate, etc.) in place by small lumps of solder until the soldering is completed.
1886in Cassell's Encycl. Dict.
(c) Plumbing. To secure (a pipe) with tacks (tack n.1 3 b).
1895in Funk's Stand. Dict.
4. To join together (events, accounts, etc.) so as to produce or show a connected whole; to bring into connexion. (Often implying arbitrary or artificial union.)
1683Dryden Vindic. Duke of Guise Dram. Wks. 1725 V. 325 Mr. Hunt has found a rare Connection, for he tacks them together, by the Kicking of the Sheriffs. 1695J. Edwards Perfect. Script. 434 Many expositors labour to tack this text to the immediately foregoing one. 1699Bentley Phal. 166 The Gentleman..tacks these two accounts together. 1712J. James tr. Le Blond's Gardening 128 The foregoing Practices..being but Things detached and separate,..there is still a farther Difficulty to tack them together, so as to make one Piece. 1720Waterland Eight Serm. 221 One might suspect that there had been two Versions of the same words, and Both, by degrees, taken into the Text, and tack'd together. 1844Lingard Anglo-Sax. Ch. (1858) I. App. B. 326 Traditionary tales, tacked together without regard to place or chronology.
5. To attach or add as a supplement; to adjoin, append, annex; spec. in parliamentary usage: see quots. and cf. tack n.1 8. Also const. on.
1683Robinson in Ray's Corr. (1848) 137 Thus far your queries as to France, to which I will tack an observation to fill up. 1692Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) II. 365 A committee of the lords sat..to search presidents about tacking one bill to another. 1700Evelyn Diary Apr., The greate contest betweene the Lords and Commons concerning the Lords power of..rejecting bills tack'd to the money bill. 1757–8Smollett Hist. Eng. (1759) IX. 296 The lords had already resolved by a vote, That they would never pass any bill sent up from the commons, to which a clause foreign to the bill should be tacked. 1791‘G. Gambado’ Ann. Horsem. ix. (1809) 107 As it's a fact, you may tack my name to it. 1855Macaulay Hist. Eng. xxii. IV. 771 A strong party in the Commons..proposed to tack the bill which the Peers had just rejected to the Land Tax Bill. 1863H. Cox Instit. i. viii. 114 The return is made by indenture..is signed and sealed, and returned to the Crown office in Chancery, tacked to the writ itself. 1902L. Stephen Stud. Biog. IV. v. 179 So prosperous a consummation was never tacked to so dismal a beginning. 1908L. M. Montgomery Anne of Green Gables viii. 83 Marilla was as fond of morals as the Duchess in Wonderland, and was firmly convinced that one should be tacked on to every remark made to a child. 1909[see tacking vbl. n. b]. 1960C. Day Lewis Buried Day i. 17 My father's family name was originally Day, the Lewis being tacked on by a man who adopted his grandfather or great-grandfather.
6. Law. To unite (a third or subsequent incumbrance) to the first, whereby it acquires priority over an intermediate mortgage.
1728Sir J. Jekyll in Peere Williams Reports (1793) II. 491 If a judgment creditor..buys in the first mortgage..he shall not tack or unite this to his judgment and thereby gain a preference. 1818Cruise Digest (ed. 2) II. 225. 1841 Penny Cycl. XIX. 361/2 Now if..D pays off B, and takes an assignment of his mortgage and of the outstanding term; if, to use the technical phrase, he ‘tacks’ B's security to his own, he unites in himself equal equity with C, and also the legal right which the term gives him. 1883Encycl. Brit. XVI. 849/1 In addition to the risk of a third mortgagee tacking.
II. Nautical senses. (From tack n.1 5.)
7. a. intr. To shift the tacks and brace the yards, and turn the ship's head to the wind, so that she shall sail at the same angle to the wind on the other side; to go about in this way; also tack about. Hence, to make a run or course obliquely against the wind; to proceed by a series of such courses; to beat to windward: often said of the ship itself.
1557in A. Jenkinson Voy. & Trav. (Hakl. Soc.) I. 8 The rest of the shippes shall tacke or take of their sailes in such sort as they may meete and come together, in as good order as may be. 1595Drake's Voy. (Hakl. Soc.) 22 They had the winde of us, but we soone regained it upon them, which made them tacke about. c1600Chalkhill Thealma & Cl. (1683) 19 His Ketch Tackt to and fro, the scanty wind to snatch. 1748Anson's Voy. ii. iv. 163 We tacked and stood to the N.W. 1777Robertson Amer. (1783) III. 217 These..could veer and tack with great celerity. 1834Nat. Philos. III. Navigation ii. v. §55. 26 (Usef. Knowl. Soc.) When the wind blows from any point within six points of the bearing of a port for which a vessel is bound, she must tack or ply to windward. 1873Daily News 21 Aug., The little craft was caught by a sudden squall when tacking, or, as sailors say, ‘in stays,’ taken aback, and capsized in a moment. 1886E. L. Bynner A. Surriage i. 16 Two or three..ketches were tacking up before the brisk off-shore breeze to make the anchorage.
b. Said of the wind: To change its direction.
1727Philip Quarll (1816) 32, I was hurried on board, the wind having tacked about and fair for our departure. Mod. [A sailor said] The wind was tacking all over the place.
8. intr.
a. transf. To make a turning or zigzag movement on land.
1700T. Brown Amusem. Ser. & Com. 34, I Tack'd about, and made a Trip over Moor-fields. 1716B. Church Hist. Philip's War (1865) I. 97 They..tack'd short about to run as fast back as they came forward. 1787‘G. Gambado’ Acad. Horsem. (1809) 37 [The Massilians] Without a bridle on the bare back, Make with a stick their horse or mare tack. 1854–6Patmore Angel in Ho. i. ii. iv. (1879) 184 But he who tacks and tries short cuts Gets fool's praise and a broken shin.
b. fig. To change one's attitude, opinion, or conduct; also, to proceed by indirect methods.
1637J. Pocklington Altare Chr. 169 He will..tacke about for other considerations..if hee bee well put to it. 1663Pepys Diary 24 June, He hath lately been observed to tack about at Court, and to endeavour to strike in with the persons that are against the Chancellor. 1791–1823Disraeli Cur. Lit., Dom. Hist. Sir E. Coke, Bacon..tacked round, and promised Buckingham to promote the match he so much abhorred. 1860–70Stubbs Lect. Europ. Hist. ii. ii. (1904) 166 He is not for a moment diverted, although he sometimes consents to tack.
9. trans. To alter the course of (a ship) by turning her with her head to the wind (sometimes said of the ship); opposed to wear v. Also, to work or navigate (a ship) against the wind by a series of tacks. Also fig.
1637J. Pocklington Altare Chr. 152 No man that has not his understanding tackt and the eye thereof turned after the humour of the men of Gr[antham]. 1747in Col. Rec. Pennsylv. V. 115 They then tacked the Ship and stood out to Sea. 1805Naval Chron. XIV. 16 She tacked Ship. 1860E. Stamp in Merc. Marine Mag. VII. 279 All hands were turned up to tack ship. 1906Temple Bar Mag. Jan. 72 It is sung sometimes when tacking ship in fair weather.
▪ XI. tack, v.2 dial.
[f. tack n.2]
1. trans. To take a lease of (a farm, etc.). Sc. rare.
1882Jamieson, Tack, to take, to lease.
2. a. To put out (cattle) to hired pasture. b. To take (cattle) to pasture for hire.
1839[Sir G. C. Lewis] Heref. Gloss., He has tacked out his cattle. 1863Morton Cycl. Agric., Tacking out, putting cattle upon hired pasturage. 1879–81G. F. Jackson Shropsh. Word-bk. s.v., Mary Cadwallader 'as sent half-a-crown for tackin' the donkey, an' wants to know if you'll tack 'im a week or nine days longer.
▪ XII. tack, v.3 Obs. exc. dial.|tæk|
[f. tack n.3: cf. F. tac there.]
trans. To taint, infect; ? to tinge, stain; dial. to give a smack or tang to.
1601Holland Pliny xvi. xliv, In case any of the sheep were deeply tackt and infected with the rot. 1643Trapp Comm. Gen. xxxi. 19 She was somewhat tackt with her fathers superstition. Ibid. xxxiv. 28 All the Corinthians were tackt with..the incestuous mans offence. 1868Atkinson Cleveland Gloss., Takt, adj. Having a marked flavour; usually applied in the case of an acid liquid.
▪ XIII. tack, v.4
aphetic f. attack v.; cf. tack n. short for attack in Eng. Dial. Dict.
1720H. Carey Poems 56 But if they once Tack you, They certainly Back you. 1731Peyton Catastr. Ho. Stuarts 42 As if a Partridge being near to a Faulcon..might peck and tack her, yet would not she yield to a small Bird.
▪ XIV. tack, v.5 trans.
Abbrev. of tackle v. 3. Usu. with up. Also absol. Cf. tack n.7 b.
1946M. C. Self Horseman's Encycl. 395 To tack up a horse means to put the saddle and bridle on him. 1962W. Faulkner Reivers viii. 178 So we..tacked up and..led the way. 1972Islander (Victoria, B.C.) 26 Mar. 13/1 In addition to being taught how to groom a horse, the new student must learn how to tack-up (that's putting a saddle and bridle on). 1977Sunday Tel. (Colour Suppl.) 1 May 22/3 It is not a bad idea either to acquire a creature that will come when it is called or will at least stand still long enough to get it tacked up for a bit of a ride.
▪ XV. tack
obs. form of take v. |