Free translatorFree translator
Synonyms, antonyms, pronunciation

  Home 		English Dictionary      examples: 'day', 'get rid of', 'New York Bay'




Tack   /tæk/   Listen
noun
Tack  n.  
1.
A stain; a tache. (Obs.)
2.
A peculiar flavor or taint; as, a musty tack. (Obs. or Colloq.)


Tack  n.  
1.
A small, short, sharp-pointed nail, usually having a broad, flat head.
2.
That which is attached; a supplement; an appendix. See Tack, v. t., 3. "Some tacks had been made to money bills in King Charles's time."
3.
(Naut.)
(a)
A rope used to hold in place the foremost lower corners of the courses when the vessel is closehauled; also, a rope employed to pull the lower corner of a studding sail to the boom.
(b)
The part of a sail to which the tack is usually fastened; the foremost lower corner of fore-and-aft sails, as of schooners.
(c)
The direction of a vessel in regard to the trim of her sails; as, the starboard tack, or port tack; the former when she is closehauled with the wind on her starboard side; hence, the run of a vessel on one tack; also, a change of direction; as, to take a different tack; often used metaphorically.
4.
(Scots Law) A contract by which the use of a thing is set, or let, for hire; a lease.
5.
Confidence; reliance. (Prov. Eng.)
Tack of a flag (Naut.), a line spliced into the eye at the foot of the hoist for securing the flag to the halyards.
Tack pins (Naut.), belaying pins; also called jack pins.
To haul the tacks aboard (Naut.), to set the courses.
To hold tack, to last or hold out.


verb
Tack  v. t.  (past & past part. tacked; pres. part. tacking)  
1.
To fasten or attach. "In hopes of getting some commendam tacked to their sees." "And tacks the center to the sphere."
2.
Especially, to attach or secure in a slight or hasty manner, as by stitching or nailing; as, to tack together the sheets of a book; to tack one piece of cloth to another; to tack on a board or shingle; to tack one piece of metal to another by drops of solder.
3.
In parliamentary usage, to add (a supplement) to a bill; to append; often with on or to; as, to tack on a non-germane appropriation to a bill.
4.
(Naut.) To change the direction of (a vessel) when sailing closehauled, by putting the helm alee and shifting the tacks and sails so that she will proceed to windward nearly at right angles to her former course. Note: In tacking, a vessel is brought to point at first directly to windward, and then so that the wind will blow against the other side.


Tack  v. i.  (Naut.) To change the direction of a vessel by shifting the position of the helm and sails; also (as said of a vessel), to have her direction changed through the shifting of the helm and sails. See Tack, v. t., 4. "Monk,... when he wanted his ship to tack to larboard, moved the mirth of his crew by calling out, "Wheel to the left.""





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


Advanced search
     Find words:
Starting with
Ending with
Containing
Matching a pattern  

Synonyms
Antonyms
Quotes
Words linked to  

only single words


Share |




"Tack" Quotes from Famous Books



... no notice of the bunting, but just watched to see what he was about. So while we are repairing damages, I'll just tell you what I saw of the rest of the fleet. As soon as old Jervis had done for the Spanish admiral, he hauled his wind on the larboard tack, and followed by four or five other ships, weathered the Spanish line, and joined Collingwood in the Excellent. Then they all dashed through the line; the Excellent was the leading ship, and she first took ...
— Peter Simple and The Three Cutters, Vol. 1-2 • Frederick Marryat
... Annie to every Tom, Dick, and Harry who pokes his nose in our packing room, but they are Tom, Dick, and Harry to her. It is not being called by your first name that makes the rub. It is being called it when you must forever tack on the Mr. and the Mrs. and the Miss. Annie is in awe of no human being. Annie is the fastest packer in the room and draws the most pay. Annie sasses the entire factory. Annie never stops talking unless she wants to. Which is only now and then when her mother has had a bad spell and Annie gets ...
— Working With the Working Woman • Cornelia Stratton Parker
... inner soles and counters have been made ready and brought to the lasting-room. The toe stiffeners and also the counters are now cemented into their places. The inner sole is tacked to the last, and the uppers are put in place and held there by a tack at the heel. This is done by machines; but their working is simple compared with that of the machine which now takes charge of the half-made shoe. This machine puts out sturdy little pincers which seize the edge of the ...
— Makers of Many Things • Eva March Tappan
... later Instructions; but there occurs elsewhere, and previously, the direction that, when the enemy is to windward, if the leading British Squadron finds it can weather any considerable part of them, it is to "tack and stand in, and strive to divide the enemy's body," and that, "being got to windward, is to bear down on those ships to leeward of them," which have thus ...
— Types of Naval Officers - Drawn from the History of the British Navy • A. T. Mahan
... or beasts while at sea. Instead, they call them all cheweh—which, to them, signifies an animal, though to others it is meaningless, and is supposed not to be understanded of the beasts. To this word they tack on the sound which each beast makes in order to indicate what animal is referred to; thus the pig is the grunting cheweh, the buffalo the cheweh that says 'uak,' and the snipe the cheweh that cries 'kek-kek.' Each boat that puts to sea has been medicined with care, many incantations ...
— In Court and Kampong - Being Tales and Sketches of Native Life in the Malay Peninsula • Hugh Clifford


More quotes...


Copyright © 2024 Free Translator.org