tack.
A small nail with a flat head.
Meaning & usage
A small nail with a flat head.
A thumbtack.
A loose seam used to temporarily fasten pieces of cloth.
The lower corner on the leading edge of a sail relative to the direction of the wind.
A course or heading that enables a sailing vessel to head upwind.
A direction or course of action, especially a new one; a method or approach to solving a problem.
The maneuver by which a sailing vessel turns its bow through the wind so that the wind changes from one side to the other.
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.
Any of the various equipment and accessories worn by horses in the course of their use as domesticated animals.
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.
Food generally; fare, especially of the hard bread or breadlike kind.
That which is attached; a supplement; an appendix.
Confidence; reliance.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English tak, takke (“hook; staple; nail”), from Old Northern French taque (“nail, pin, peg”), from Frankish *takkō (“twig, branch, shoot”), of unknown origin, but possibly from Proto-Indo-European *dHgʰ-n-, from the root *déHgʰ- (“to pinch; to tear, rip, fray”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Takke (“bough; branch; twig”), West Frisian takke (“branch”), tûk (“branch, smart, sharp”), Dutch tak (“twig; branch; limb”), German Zacke (“jag; prong; spike; tooth; peak”).
To nail (something) with a tack (small nail with a flat head).
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 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.
To add something as an extra item.
to tack (something) onto (something)
Synonym of tack up (“to prepare a horse for riding by equipping it with a tack”).
To join in wedlock.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English takken (“to attach; nail”), from the noun (see above).
A stain; a tache.
A peculiar flavour or taint.
a musty tack
Where this word comes from
From an old or dialectal form of French tache. See techy. Doublet of tache.
That which is tacky; something cheap and gaudy.
Where this word comes from
Back-formation from tacky.
A contract by which the use of a thing is set, or let, for hire; a lease.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English tak, take (“fee, tax (on livestock)”), from Old Norse tak, taka (“a taking, seizure; revenue”), from Old Norse taka (“to take”). Cognate with Scots tack.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.