Ticking

Definitions

1. A strong cotton or linen fabric used to cover pillows and mattresses.
2. A sound of something ticking. (For example, the second hand on a clock face.)
3. A marking that occurs on some horses, involving white flecks of hair at the flank, and white hairs at the base of the tail, called a skunk tail or rabicano, sometimes referred to as birdcatcher ticks.
4. An illusional style of dance where one moves his or her body to the "tic" of the music creating a strobe or animated effect.

Equivalents

Examples

“Harvey saw⟳ with disgust that there were no sheets on his bed-place. He was lying on a piece of dingy ticking full of lumps and nubbles.”

“Were they indeed the tickings of a hundred clocks — the fine low inward breathings of Time's children!”

“The combination of “monotony” and “variety,” which keeps the writer in a trance-like state between sleep⟳ and wake⟳, is then characterized by the figure⟳ of a ticking watch⟳: “If certain sensitive persons listen⟳ persistently to the ticking of a watch⟳ [...] they fall⟳ into the hypnotic trance; and rhythm is but the ticking of a watch⟳ made softer, that one must needs listen⟳, and various, that one may not be swept beyond memory or grow⟳ weary of listening” (1961: 159).”

CEFR level