tick

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a metallic tapping sound

   We counted the ticks of the clock.

2. 2
   verb

   sew

   tick a mattress

3. 3
   verb

   make a sound like a clock or a timer

   the clocks were ticking

4. 4
   verb

   make a clicking or ticking sound

   The clock ticked away

5. 5
   noun

   A tiny woodland arachnid of the suborder Ixodida.

   Sucking up all you can / Sucking up all you can suck and suck / Working up under my patience like a little tick / Fat little parasite (parasite) / Suck me dry / My fruit is bruised and borrowed / You thieving bastards / You have turned my blood cold and bitter

6. 6
   noun

   A relatively quiet but sharp sound generally made repeatedly by moving machinery.

   The steady tick of the clock provided a comforting background for the conversation.

7. 7
   noun

   A mark on any scale of measurement; a unit of measurement.

   At midday, the long bond is up a tick.

8. 8
   noun

   A short period of time, particularly a second.

   I'll be back in a tick.

Etymology

From Middle English tik-, tic-, tike-, tiken- (in compounds), an unassibilated form of Middle English tiche, tichen (“young goat”), from Old English tiċċen (“young goat; kid”), from Proto-West Germanic *tikkīn (“goatling”), diminutive of Proto-West Germanic *tigā (“goat”). Cognate with regional German Zicke (“nanny goat”), from Ziege (“goat; nanny goat”).