tick

tick¹ parasite

Etymology

The parasite is inherited from Middle English tike (also teke),^[2][5][6] inherited from Old English ticia,^[2][7][8] a form recorded only once, in the Erfurt Glossary (before 800), that the OED and Hoad take as an error for an unrecorded *tīca or *ticca.^[9][6][8] It goes back to Proto-West Germanic *tik-,^[2][6] and is cognate with Middle Dutch tēke, Dutch teek, Old High German zecho and German Zecke;^[2][8][5] the Middle English forms may owe something to Middle Dutch or Middle Low German.^[6][9] The further origin is unknown:^[2][9] Etymonline suggests Proto-Indo-European *deigh- (“insect”), while Merriam-Webster and Barnhart compare Middle Irish dega (“stag beetle”), and Klein thinks the word imitative.^[2][3][8][5] French tique and Italian zecca are loans from Germanic.^[2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A blood-sucking mite of animals, recorded in the Erfurt Glossary before 800.^[9][8] After that the word reappears about 1310, as tik, in Barnhart's dating.^[8]

Semantic evolution

From 1631 the parasite became a name of contempt for a person, often little tick,^[9][7] and Green's Dictionary of Slang finds it in a Cambridge glossary of 1803 for a hanger-on "who will stick closer than a brother".^[10] The phrase as full as a tick, "full to bursting", is in John Ray's collection of proverbs (1678);^[9][11] it was still used in Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire and Warwickshire around 1900,^[12] and tight as a tick, "very drunk", is American by 1933.^[2] The small horse-bean called tick (1765) was named from the seed's likeness to a dog-tick.^[9][7][12]

Timeline

• before 800 – ticia, in the Erfurt Glossary.^[9][8]
• c. 1310 – tik, in Middle English.^[8]
• 1631 – a contemptible person.^[9]
• 1678 – as full as a tick.^[9]
• 1765 – the tick-bean.^[9]
• 1933 – tight as a tick, drunk.^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A small blood-sucking arachnid related to the mites, which attaches itself to the skin of animals and people and can carry disease.
2. Any of certain parasitic flies, such as the sheep ked.
3. (informal) An unpleasant or contemptible person.

Word family

• tick fever
• tickbird

tick² touch, sound, mark

Etymology

The touch and the sound are inherited from Middle English tiken (“to touch, tap lightly”) (verb), recorded from the early 13th century, and tek (“a light touch”) (noun), from about 1440.^[2][8][9] Their origin is uncertain: similar words are Dutch tik (“a pat, touch”) and tikken (“to pat, tick”), Low German tikk (“a touch; a moment”), Middle High German zic (“a light push”), Old High German zeckōn (“to pluck”) and Norwegian tikke (“to touch lightly”).^{[9][2][7][13]} The OED says they may point to a common Germanic source or may be later imitative words, and Etymonline and Klein think them echoic.^[9][8][2][5] The word is probably related to tickle.^[1][11][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

A light touch or tap: the verb "to touch" in the early 13th century,^[2] and the noun in the Promptorium Parvulorum (c. 1440).^[9][8]

Semantic evolution

Touching is the oldest sense: to tick someone was to tap or pat them, often playfully or amorously, and the children's game of tag was tick in Drayton's Poly-Olbion (1622) and in the north of England.^[9][2][12] The quick light sound, especially that of a clock, is first clearly recorded in Aubrey in 1680 (Etymonline thinks by the 1540s),^[9][8][2] and the verb for the clock's ticking from 1721.^[9][3][2] From the sound came the time between two ticks, "a moment" (1879, now British and informal).^[9][2][13] A small mark made to check off an item is recorded from 1844, and the verb "to mark with a tick" from Dickens's Hard Times (1854);^[9][2][1] tick off, "to scold", was first military slang (1915).^[9] In the 20th century the clock image spread: an idling engine ticks over (1916), a taximeter ticks (1926), and what makes him tick asks what drives a person (1931).^[9][2] In the 1980s the smallest movement of a price on an exchange also became a tick.^[9][13]

Timeline

• early 13th century – the verb, to touch.^[2]
• c. 1440 – the noun, a light touch.^[9][8]
• 1622 – the game of tag.^[9]
• 1680 – the sound of a clock.^[9][8]
• 1721 – the verb, of a clock.^[9][3]
• 1844 – a check mark.^[9][2]
• 1854 – to mark with a tick.^[9]
• 1879 – a moment.^[9][2]
• 1915 – tick off, to reprimand.^[9]
• 1916 – tick over, of an engine.^[9]
• 1931 – what makes someone tick.^[9][2]
• 1982 – the smallest price movement on an exchange.^[9]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A light, sharp, regularly repeated clicking sound, such as a clock makes.
2. (British, informal) A moment: I'll be with you in a tick.
3. A mark (✓) used to check off an item or show that something is correct.
4. (finance) The smallest amount by which the price of a security or commodity can move.
5. (British) The children's game of tag.

Verb

1. To make a tick or a series of ticks: the meter ticked on while we waited.
2. To mark with a tick; often with off.
3. (of time) To pass; with by or away.
4. To function or work; what makes someone tick is what motivates them.

Word family

• ticker
• tick off
• tick over
• tick-tock

tick³ mattress case

Etymology

The mattress case is inherited from Middle English tike (also teke, tikke),^[8][9][3] probably borrowed from Middle Dutch tīke or tēke.^{[8][7][1][14]} These go back to Proto-West Germanic *tēka (later *tīka),^[9] which was borrowed from Latin thēca (“case, cover”), from Ancient Greek θήκη (thḗkē, “case, box, sheath”);^[9][3][8][7] the Greek noun is related to τίθημι (títhēmi, “to put, place”).^[8][3] Cognates are Old High German ziahha (“pillowcase, tick”), German Zieche and Dutch tijk.^[8][7][9] Klein calls the word a doublet of theca.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The cloth case of a mattress or pillow, into which feathers or flock were stuffed: 1342, as tyke, in Barnhart's dating; the OED's first example is from 1466.^[8][9]

Semantic evolution

From the 16th century the word also named the strong linen or cotton fabric from which such cases were made, now usually called ticking (1649).^[9][8] In Scotland the tyke could be the bed or bolster itself.^[9]

Timeline

• 1342 – tyke, a mattress or pillow case.^[8]
• 1466 – the OED's first example.^[9]
• 1649 – ticking, the fabric.^[8]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The strong cloth case of a mattress, pillow or bolster; also a mattress made of such a case and its stuffing.
2. Ticking, the fabric used for such cases.

Word family

• ticking
• bedtick

tick⁴ credit

Etymology

Credit is a shortening of ticket in the phrase “on the ticket”,^{[9][2][7][3][5]} where the ticket was a written acknowledgement of a debt.^[2][10] The OED notes that the dates rule out a derivation from the verb tick "to mark", which has sometimes been suggested.^[9] Johnson (1755) also thought it contracted from ticket, "a tally on which debts are scored".^[15]

Earliest recorded meaning

Credit, trust, in the phrase on tick: 1642, in a manuscript in the British Museum.^[9][3] Etymonline dates the phrase to the 1640s.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The phrases to go on tick and to run on tick meant to buy on credit or run into debt;^[9][7] from 1668 tick could also mean a person's credit or reputation for paying, and a debit account from 1681, as in Thackeray's "tailors' ticks".^[9][7] A verb followed: "to buy on credit" (1648) and "to sell on credit" (1712).^[9][2] Johnson (1755) gave the noun as "score; trust", quoting Hudibras ("Fight upon tick").^[15] Around 1900 tick for credit was in general dialect and colloquial use in Scotland, Ireland and England.^[12]

Timeline

• 1642 – on tick, on credit.^[9][3]
• 1648 – the verb, to buy on credit.^[9]
• 1668 – credit, reputation for paying.^[9]
• 1681 – a debit account.^[9]
• 1712 – the verb, to give credit.^[9][2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. (British, informal) Credit, especially in on tick: They bought the furniture on tick.