Sekirov Dictionary

tack

/tæk/

noun 18
verb 8
forms 4
phrases 7

noun18

A course or heading that enables a sailing vessel to head upwind.
•
(figurative) A direction or course of action, especially a new one; a method or approach to solving a problem.
- So stoutly held to tack by those near North-wales men — 1612
A small nail with a flat head.
A thumbtack.
Any of the various equipment and accessories worn by horses in the course of their use as domesticated animals.
The maneuver by which a sailing vessel turns its bow through the wind so that the wind changes from one side to the other.
(informal) That which is tacky; something cheap and gaudy.
A loose seam used to temporarily fasten pieces of cloth.
•
The stickiness of a compound, related to its cohesive and adhesive properties.
- The laminate adhesive has very aggressive tack and is hard to move once in place.
The lower corner on the leading edge of a sail relative to the direction of the wind.
The distance a sailing vessel runs between these maneuvers when working to windward; a board.
A rope used to hold in place the foremost lower corners of the courses when the vessel is close-hauled; also, a rope employed to pull the lower corner of a studding sail to the boom.
•
Food generally; fare, especially of the hard bread or breadlike kind.
- But if a woman's got nothing but her fair fame to feed on, why, it's thin tack, and a donkey would die of it! — 1913
•
(Scotland, Northern-England) A contract by which the use of a thing is set, or let, for hire; a lease.
- In the Breadalbane papers, for example, there is a "tack" which was given by Sir John Campbell of Glenurchy to his "weil belouit" servant John M'Conoquhy V'Gregour, in the year 1530. — 1885
•
That which is attached; a supplement; an appendix.
- Some tacks had been made to money bills in King Charles's time. — 1716
A stain; a tache.
•
(no longer used) Confidence; reliance.
- He should find[…]that there was tack in it, that it was solid silver, or silver that had strength in it. — 1651
(no longer used) A peculiar flavour or taint.

verb8

•
To nail (something) with a tack (small nail with a flat head).
- The hallway smelt of boiled cabbage and old rag mats. At one end of it a colored poster, too large for indoor display, had been tacked to the wall. — 1949
To sew/stitch with a tack (loose seam used to temporarily fasten pieces of cloth).
To weld with initial small welds to temporarily fasten in preparation for full welding.
To add something as an extra item.
To maneuver a sailing vessel so that its bow turns through the wind, i.e. the wind changes from one side of the vessel to the other.
To sail to windward using a series of alternate tacks across the wind.
Synonym of tack up (“to prepare a horse for riding by equipping it with a tack”).
(slang, no longer used) To join in wedlock.

forms

tacked · tackt · tacking · tacks

Phrases with tack

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