Meaning of Tack | Babel Free

Definitions

1. That which is tacky; something cheap and gaudy.
   colloquial, uncountable
2. A contract by which the use of a thing is set, or let, for hire; a lease.
   Northern-England, Scotland
3. A small nail with a flat head.
   countable, uncountable
4. A surname.
5. A stain; a tache.
6. A thumbtack.
   countable, uncountable
7. A peculiar flavour or taint.
   obsolete
8. A loose seam used to temporarily fasten pieces of cloth.
   countable, uncountable
9. The lower corner on the leading edge of a sail relative to the direction of the wind.
   countable, uncountable
10. A course or heading that enables a sailing vessel to head upwind.
    countable, uncountable
11. A direction or course of action, especially a new one; a method or approach to solving a problem.
    countable, figuratively, uncountable
12. The maneuver by which a sailing vessel turns its bow through the wind so that the wind changes from one side to the other.
    countable, uncountable
13. The distance a sailing vessel runs between these maneuvers when working to windward; a board.
    countable, uncountable
14. 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.
    countable, uncountable
15. Any of the various equipment and accessories worn by horses in the course of their use as domesticated animals.
    countable, uncountable
16. The stickiness of a compound, related to its cohesive and adhesive properties.
    countable, uncountable
17. Food generally; fare, especially of the hard bread or breadlike kind.
    countable, uncountable
18. That which is attached; a supplement; an appendix.
    countable, uncountable
19. Confidence; reliance.
    countable, obsolete, uncountable

Equivalents

Examples

“A tough test for even the strongest climber, it was new to the Tour de France this year, but its debut will be remembered for the wrong reasons after one of those spectators scattered carpet tacks on the road and induced around 30 punctures among the group of riders including Bradley Wiggins, the Tour's overall leader, and his chief rivals.”

“So stoutly held to tack by those near North-wales men;”

“Maud Gonne’s letter about taking them off O’Connell street at night: disgrace to our Irish capital. Griffith’s paper is on the same tack now: an army rotten with venereal disease: overseas or halfseasover empire.”

“I thought that my refusing Barnard would alienate Botha, and decided that such a tack was too risky.”

“When even cautious German politicians are questioning Nato’s ‘war-mongering’ actions, it’s clear that a new tack is required”

“The laminate adhesive has very aggressive tack and is hard to move once in place.”

“Letterpress and offset gloss varnishes normally have viscosities varying from 50 to 250 poises; they must stain the paper as little as possible, have insufficient tack to cause plucking, […]”

“Near-synonyms: biscuit, bread”

“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!”

“Some tacks had been made to money bills in King Charles's time.”

“pay all taxes and subscribe tacks”

“He should find[…]that there was tack in it, that it was solid silver, or silver that had strength in it.”

“a musty tack”

“For souvenirs – mostly outright tack and ethnicky textiles – try your bargaining skills at the shops and stalls on Binjiang Luand Zhengyang Jie, or the nightly street market spreading for about a block either side of Shanhu Bridge along Zhongshan Lu.”

“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.”

CEFR level