tick¹ /tik/

1. The sound of a watch, clock, etc
2. A beat
3. A moment (informal)
4. A small mark (✔) used to indicate or mark off anything as checked, dealt with, required, correct, etc
5. A light tap or pat (obsolete)
6. The game of tig

1. To make a sound like a mechanical clock
2. To beat time
3. To work, be operated
4. To tap, pat (obsolete; tick and toy to dally)

1. To mark with a tick (sometimes with off)
2. To measure, record, indicate (eg time) by a ticking sound (sometimes with out)
3. To dot

ticked adjective

1. Ticked off
2. Speckled

tickˈer noun

1. Anything that ticks, esp a telegraph instrument that prints signals on a tape, or (slang) a watch
2. The heart (slang)

tickˈing noun and adjective

tick box noun

A box on a printed form or computer screen into which a tick may be inserted to show that something has been checked, dealt with, agreed to, etc

ticker tape noun

1. Paper ribbon on which a ticker prints
2. Anything similar, such as a streamer (ticker-tape welcome, etc, a welcome, etc, esp in New York, in which ticker tape, confetti, etc is thrown (through the streets) during the progress of a celebrity)

ticking-offˈ noun (slang)

A reprimand

tickˈ-tack noun

1. Ticking of a clock, etc
2. (also ticˈ-tac) bookmakers' telegraphy by arm signals
3. See also trick-track

adverb

With recurring ticking

tick-tack-toeˈ, tick-tack-tooˈ or tic-tac-toˈ noun (N American)

Noughts and crosses

tick-tickˈ noun

1. A ticking
2. /tikˈtik/ a child's word for a watch

tick-tockˈ noun

1. A ticking, as of a big clock
2. A tapping
3. /tikˈtok/ a child's word for a clock

intransitive verb

(of a clock) to tick

in two ticks

In a moment

make (someone or something) tick (informal)

1. To cause to operate or function
2. To be the driving force behind
3. To cause to behave, think, etc in a certain way

tick all the (right) boxes (informal)

To fulfil all requirements

tick away

(of time, life, etc) to pass away with the regularity of the ticking of a clock

tick down

(of time) to move inexorably towards a deadline

ticked off (US sl)

Annoyed, angry

tick off

1. To mark with a tick
2. To reprimand (slang)

tick over

1. (of an engine) to run gently, disconnected from the transmission (tickˈ-over noun)
2. (of a person) to lead an inactive, uneventful existence
3. To function, operate, especially at a low level of activity (figurative)

tick up (chiefly N Am)

To increase

tick² /tik/

1. Any of the larger bloodsucking mites of the Acarina order
2. Applied also to the sheep-ked and similar degenerate bloodsucking Diptera parasitic on cattle and horses, etc
3. A small and usu objectionable person (informal)

tick bird noun

The oxpecker

tick fever noun

1. Rocky Mountain spotted fever or any similar disease transmitted by ticks
2. East Coast fever
3. Texas fever

tick trefoil noun

Any of a genus (Desmodium) of leguminous plants with clusters of small purple flowers and jointed prickly pods

tick³ /tik/

1. The cover of a mattress
2. Ticking

tickˈen or tickˈing noun

The strong, usu striped cloth of which ticks are made

tick⁴ /tik/ (slang)

1. Credit, delayed payment, esp in the phrase on tick
2. Trust

To get or give credit

tick shop noun

A shop where goods are given on credit

tick⁵ /tik/

1. Crib-biting
2. A whimsy

• enzones
• enzoning
• enzootic
• enzootics
• enzymatic
• enzyme
• enzymes
• enzymic
• enzymological
• enzymologies
• enzymologist
• enzymologists
• enzymology
• eo
• E O
• eoan
• Eoanthropus
• EOC
• Eocene
• eod
• eohippus
• eohippuses
• eo ipso
• EOKA
• Eolian