Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A strong, tightly woven fabric of cotton or linen used to make pillow and mattress coverings.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The act of making ticks, or slight repeated sounds; the sounds themselves: as, the ticking of the clock.
  • noun A strong material of linen or cotton, basket-woven, and usually in stripes of blue or pink with white.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A strong, closely woven linen or cotton fabric, of which ticks for beds are made. It is usually twilled, and woven in stripes of different colors, as white and blue; -- called also ticken.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A strong cotton or linen fabric used to cover pillows and mattresses.
  • noun A sound of something ticking.
  • noun An illusional style of dance where one moves his or her body to the "tic" of the music creating a strobe or animated effect.
  • noun A marking that occurs on some horses. It involves 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.
  • verb Present participle of tick.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a strong fabric used for mattress and pillow covers
  • noun a metallic tapping sound

Etymologies

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Examples

  • CHO: So Lindsay, 23 and cancer free, made the unusual decision to have doctors remove both of her breasts, to take away what she called the ticking time bomb.

    CNN Transcript Nov 13, 2006 2006

  • CHO: So Lindsay, 23 and cancer free, made the unusual decision to have doctors remove both of her breasts, to take away what she called the ticking time bomb.

    CNN Transcript Nov 13, 2006 2006

  • I think in the case of someone like Khalid Shaikh Mohammed (ph), one of the top leaders of al Qaeda, I think that that -- you can make a fairly convincing case for going to extreme lengths to get information from him in what they call ticking bomb scenarios, but I think these are very rare cases.

    CNN Transcript May 19, 2004 2004

  • Israeli sources say they won't abandon assassinations if they get word of what they call a ticking bomb.

    CNN Transcript Jun 16, 2003 2003

  • But the Israelis are also saying that he was someone who fits the category of what they call a ticking bomb.

    CNN Transcript Jun 22, 2003 2003

  • They insist they're dealing with what they call ticking bombs, trying to prevent terror strikes that are already in the works.

    CNN Transcript Jun 22, 2003 2003

  • The England team have wound down their pre-Ashes practice now, more than anything an exercise in ticking-over before getting outdoors in Perth at the weekend, but Tim Bresnan and Stuart Broad were bowling under the tutelage of David Saker, while Jonathan Trott, insatiable worker and usually the only one left to turn off the lights, was there with Graham Gooch and his dog-ball thrower.

    No spin required as the ECB gets its coaching house in order Mike Selvey 2010

  • The fly-half's ability to keep the scoreboard ticking is improving; his goalkicking is as reliable as anyone's.

    Toby Booth revels in London Irish's Heineken Cup win over Munster Robert Kitson at Madejski Stadium 2010

  • Dovegreyreader scribbles all kept my brain ticking along while the rest of me plodded back to fitness, and what an exciting year it's been since.

    ON BEING ILL by Virginia Woolf 2007

  • Dovegreyreader scribbles all kept my brain ticking along while the rest of me plodded back to fitness, and what an exciting year it's been since.

    ON BEING ILL by Virginia Woolf 2007

Comments

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  • Merriam-Webster Dictionary:

    noun

    Etymology: 2tick

    Date: 1649

    : a strong linen or cotton fabric used in upholstering and as a covering for a mattress or pillow

    See feather tick and bedtick

    February 6, 2008