ticking

[tik-ing] /ˈtɪk ɪŋ/
noun
1.
a strong cotton fabric, usually twilled, used especially in making cloth ticks.
2.
a similar cloth in satin weave or Jacquard, used especially for mattress covers.
Origin
1635-45; tick3 + -ing1

tick1

[tik] /tɪk/
noun
1.
a slight, sharp, recurring click, tap, or beat, as of a clock.
2.
Chiefly British Informal. a moment or instant.
3.
a small dot, mark, check, or electronic signal, as used to mark off an item on a list, serve as a reminder, or call attention to something.
4.
Stock Exchange.
  1. a movement in the price of a stock, bond, or option.
  2. the smallest possible tick on a given exchange.
5.
Manège. a jumping fault consisting of a light touch of a fence with one or more feet.
6.
a small contrasting spot of color on the coat of a mammal or the feathers of a bird.
verb (used without object)
7.
to emit or produce a tick, like that of a clock.
8.
to pass as with ticks of a clock:
The hours ticked by.
verb (used with object)
9.
to sound or announce by a tick or ticks:
The clock ticked the minutes.
10.
to mark with a tick or ticks; check (usually followed by off); to tick off the items on the memo.
Verb phrases
11.
tick off, Slang.
  1. to make angry:
    His mistreatment of the animals really ticked me off.
  2. Chiefly British. to scold severely:
    The manager will tick you off if you make another mistake.
Idioms
12.
what makes one tick, the motive or explanation of one's behavior:
The biographer failed to show what made Herbert Hoover tick.
Origin
1400-50; late Middle English tek little touch; akin to Dutch tik a touch, pat, Norwegian tikka to touch or shove slightly. See tickle
Examples from the web for ticking
  • The clock is always ticking on fresh produce, meat and anything from a cow.
  • The special fear of our patient, however, was that the ticking of the clock would disturb her in her sleep.
  • Hidden beneath the ocean waves lies a ticking time bomb.
  • Time is ticking as the crew gathers wood to build makeshift walkways that will be used to cross over the mucky marsh.
  • Perhaps some millennial spillover runs through the makeup of what is now one of the world's ticking hot spots.
  • But whether they decide to relocate villagers or limit the annual number of tourists, the clock is ticking.
  • The sobering reality is quite different and the clock is now ticking for our beloved home planet.
  • Rather what they tell me is that the tenure clock is ticking no matter what.
  • Once the minds are ticking over, it is time to get out of their way, and it defeats the purpose if one does not.
  • The ticking of an old fashioned wall clock and some distant traffic with an occasional siren.
British Dictionary definitions for ticking

ticking

/ˈtɪkɪŋ/
noun
1.
a strong cotton fabric, often striped, used esp for mattress and pillow covers
Word Origin
C17: from tick³

tick1

/tɪk/
noun
1.
a recurrent metallic tapping or clicking sound, such as that made by a clock or watch
2.
(Brit, informal) a moment or instant
3.
a mark (✓) or dash used to check off or indicate the correctness of something
4.
(commerce) the smallest increment of a price fluctuation in a commodity exchange. Tick size is usually 0.01% of the nominal value of the trading unit
verb
5.
to produce a recurrent tapping sound or indicate by such a sound: the clock ticked the minutes away
6.
when tr, often foll by off. to mark or check (something, such as a list) with a tick
7.
(informal) what makes someone tick, the basic drive or motivation of a person
See also tick off, tick over
Word Origin
C13: from Low German tikk touch; related to Old High German zekōn to pluck, Norwegian tikke to touch

tick2

/tɪk/
noun
1.
any of various small parasitic arachnids of the families Ixodidae (hard ticks) and Argasidae (soft ticks), typically living on the skin of warm-blooded animals and feeding on the blood and tissues of their hosts: order Acarina (mites and ticks) See also sheep tick (sense 1) related adjective acaroid
2.
any of certain other arachnids of the order Acarina
3.
any of certain insects of the dipterous family Hippoboscidae that are ectoparasitic on horses, cattle, sheep, etc, esp the sheep ked
Word Origin
Old English ticca; related to Middle High German zeche tick, Middle Irish dega stag beetle

tick3

/tɪk/
noun
1.
(Brit, informal) account or credit (esp in the phrase on tick)
Word Origin
C17: shortened from ticket

tick4

/tɪk/
noun
1.
the strong covering of a pillow, mattress, etc
2.
(informal) short for ticking
Word Origin
C15: probably from Middle Dutch tīke; related to Old High German ziecha pillow cover, Latin tēca case, Greek thēkē
Word Origin and History for ticking
n.

"cloth covering for mattresses or pillows," 1640s, from tyke (modern tick) with the same meaning (mid-14c.), probably from Middle Dutch tike, from a West Germanic borrowing of Latin theca "case," from Greek theke "a case, box, cover, sheath" (see theco-).

tick

n.

parasitic blood-sucking arachnid animal, Old English ticia, from West Germanic *tik- (cf. Middle Dutch teke, Dutch teek, Old High German zecho, German Zecke "tick"), of unknown origin. French tique (mid-15c.), Italian zecca are Germanic loan-words.

mid-15c., "light touch or tap," probably from tick (v.) and cognate with Dutch tik, Middle High German zic, and perhaps echoic. Meaning "sound made by a clock" is probably first recorded 1540s; tick-tock is recorded from 1848.

"credit," 1640s, shortening of ticket (n.).

v.

early 13c., "to touch or pat," perhaps from an Old English verb corresponding to tick (n.2), and perhaps ultimately echoic. Cf. Old High German zeckon "to pluck," Dutch tikken "to pat," Norwegian tikke "touch lightly." Related: Ticked; ticking.

To tick (someone) off is from 1915, originally "to reprimand, scold." The verbal phrase tick off was in use in several senses at the time: as what a telegraph instrument does when it types out a message (1873), as what a clock does in marking the passage of time (1846), to enumerate on one's fingers (1899), and in accountancy, etc., "make a mark beside an item on a sheet with a pencil, etc.," often indicating a sale (by 1881). This might be the direct source of the phrase, perhaps via World War I military bureaucratic sense of being marked off from a list as "dismissed" or "ineligible." Meaning "to annoy" is recorded from 1975.

ticking in Medicine

tick 2 (tĭk)
n.

  1. Any of numerous small bloodsucking parasitic arachnids of the families Ixodidae and Argasidae, many of which transmit febrile diseases, such as Rocky Mountain spotted fever and Lyme disease.

  2. Any of various usually wingless, louselike insects of the family Hippobosciddae that are parasitic on sheep, goats, and other animals.

ticking in Science
tick
  (tĭk)   
Any of numerous small, parasitic arachnids of the suborder Ixodida that feed on the blood of animals. Like their close relatives the mites and unlike spiders, ticks have no division between cephalothorax and abdomen. Ticks differ from mites by being generally larger and having a sensory pit at the end of their first pair of legs. Many ticks transmit febrile diseases, such as Rocky Mountain spotted fever and Lyme disease.
Slang definitions & phrases for ticking

tick 1

noun

Credit: plenty of canned goods and plenty of tick at the store

[1642+; fr ticket]


tick 2

noun
  1. A degree, esp of upward motion or increase; adiscrete amount: if the price would have stayed where it was or skipped up a few more ticks (1970+)
  2. Asecond; a JIFFY: I'll be there in a couple of ticks (1879+)
Related Terms

ricky-tick, uptick, what makes someone tick


tick 3

Related Terms

tight as a tick


Idioms and Phrases with ticking

tick

In addition to the idiom beginning with
tick
also see: