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APG.American
Pronunciation Guide
HOW TO PRONOUNCE

tick

/tɪk/

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American Pronunciation Guide · 0:55
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What does tick mean?

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.
More meanings (20)

noun

  1. A jiffy (unit of time defined by basic timer frequency).
  2. A short period of time, particularly a second.
  3. A periodic increment of damage or healing caused by an ongoing status effect.
  4. Each of the fixed time periods, in a tick-based game, in which players or characters may perform a set number of actions.
  5. A mark (✓) made to indicate agreement, correctness, or acknowledgement.
  6. 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.
  7. A whinchat (Saxicola rubetra).
  8. A tap or light touch.
  9. A slight speck.
  10. Ticking.
  11. A sheet that wraps around a mattress; the cover of a mattress, containing the filling.
  12. Credit, trust.
  13. (obsolete) A goat.

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. (informal) 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).
  6. To go on trust, or credit.
  7. To give tick; to trust.
Wiktionary contributors

Definitions regrouped for readability · CC BY-SA 4.0

IPA pronunciation

/tɪk/

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 ↗

Pronunciation varies by speaker and region. About these dictionary pronunciations.

In the pages of books

See this word in context.

The clock now had a silent hall to tick in, and an audience of four or five somnolent merchants.
Virginia WoolfThe Voyage OutProject Gutenberg ebook #144
Later on she made her bed less successfully, for she had never learned the art of wrestling with a feather tick.
L. M. (Lucy Maud) MontgomeryAnne of Green GablesProject Gutenberg ebook #45
More book examples (3)
Slowly Hook let his head emerge from his ruff, and listened so intently that he could have caught the echo of the tick.
J. M. (James Matthew) BarriePeter Pan : $b [Peter and Wendy]Project Gutenberg ebook #16
“Oh, anybody can run a tick down that don’t belong to them. I’m satisfied with it. It’s a good enough tick for me.”
Mark TwainThe Adventures of Tom Sawyer, CompleteProject Gutenberg ebook #74
Louse-fly is a better name for this parasite than tick, as its entire life is spent on the body of a sheep.
Robert Alexander CraigCommon Diseases of Farm AnimalsProject Gutenberg ebook #8502