Library / English Dictionary

TACK

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Sailing a zigzag course

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("tack" is a kind of...):

sailing (riding in a sailboat)

Sense 2

Meaning:

(nautical) the act of changing tack

Synonyms:

tack; tacking

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("tack" is a kind of...):

change of course (a change in the direction that you are moving)

Domain category:

navigation; sailing; seafaring (the work of a sailor)

Derivation:

tack (reverse (a direction, attitude, or course of action))

Sense 3

Meaning:

(nautical) a line (rope or chain) that regulates the angle at which a sail is set in relation to the wind

Synonyms:

mainsheet; sheet; shroud; tack; weather sheet

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("tack" is a kind of...):

line (something (as a cord or rope) that is long and thin and flexible)

Domain category:

navigation; sailing; seafaring (the work of a sailor)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "tack"):

futtock shroud (shroud that is part of a ship's rigging)

Holonyms ("tack" is a part of...):

ship (a vessel that carries passengers or freight)

Derivation:

tack (turn into the wind)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Gear for a horse

Synonyms:

saddlery; stable gear; tack

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("tack" is a kind of...):

appurtenance; gear; paraphernalia (equipment consisting of miscellaneous articles needed for a particular operation or sport etc.)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "tack"):

bit (piece of metal held in horse's mouth by reins and used to control the horse while riding)

caparison; housing; trapping (stable gear consisting of a decorated covering for a horse, especially (formerly) for a warhorse)

cinch; girth (stable gear consisting of a band around a horse's belly that holds the saddle in place)

hame (stable gear consisting of either of two curved supports that are attached to the collar of a draft horse and that hold the traces)

harness (stable gear consisting of an arrangement of leather straps fitted to a draft animal so that it can be attached to and pull a cart)

headgear (stable gear consisting of any part of a harness that fits about the horse's head)

martingale (a harness strap that connects the nose piece to the girth; prevents the horse from throwing back its head)

horse blanket; saddle blanket; saddlecloth (stable gear consisting of a blanket placed under the saddle)

yoke (stable gear that joins two draft animals at the neck so they can work together as a team)

Sense 5

Meaning:

A short nail with a sharp point and a large head

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("tack" is a kind of...):

nail (a thin pointed piece of metal that is hammered into materials as a fastener)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "tack"):

tintack (tack or small nail of tinned iron)

drawing pin; pushpin; thumbtack (a tack for attaching papers to a bulletin board or drawing board)

carpet tack (a tack used to nail down carpets)

Derivation:

tack (fasten with tacks)

Sense 6

Meaning:

The heading or position of a vessel relative to the trim of its sails

Classified under:

Nouns denoting spatial position

Hypernyms ("tack" is a kind of...):

aim; bearing; heading (the direction or path along which something moves or along which it lies)

Derivation:

tack (turn into the wind)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Reverse (a direction, attitude, or course of action)

Synonyms:

alternate; flip; flip-flop; interchange; switch; tack

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "tack" is one way to...):

change by reversal; reverse; turn (change to the contrary)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

tack ((nautical) the act of changing tack)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Fix to; attach

Example:

append a charm to the necklace

Synonyms:

append; hang on; tack; tack on; tag on

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "tack" is one way to...):

attach (cause to be attached)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "tack"):

subjoin (add to the end)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s something to somebody

Sense 3

Meaning:

Sew together loosely, with large stitches

Example:

baste a hem

Synonyms:

baste; tack

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "tack" is one way to...):

run up; sew; sew together; stitch (fasten by sewing; do needlework)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

tacker (a sewer who fastens a garment with long loose stitches)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Fasten with tacks

Example:

tack the notice on the board

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "tack" is one way to...):

fasten; fix; secure (cause to be firmly attached)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "tack"):

thumbtack (fasten with thumbtacks)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s something PP

Also:

tack on (fix to; attach)

Derivation:

tack (a short nail with a sharp point and a large head)

tacker (a hand-held machine for driving staples home)

tacker (a sewer who fastens a garment with long loose stitches)

tacker (a worker who fastens things by tacking them (as with tacks or by spotwelding))

Sense 5

Meaning:

Create by putting components or members together

Example:

They set up a committee

Synonyms:

assemble; piece; put together; set up; tack; tack together

Classified under:

Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing

Hypernyms (to "tack" is one way to...):

create; make (make or cause to be or to become)

join (cause to become joined or linked)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "tack"):

comfit; confect; confection (make into a confection)

confuse; jumble; mix up (assemble without order or sense)

reassemble (assemble once again, after taking something apart)

configure (set up for a particular purpose)

compound (create by mixing or combining)

rig up (erect or construct, especially as a temporary measure)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Sense 6

Meaning:

Turn into the wind

Example:

The boat tacked

Synonyms:

tack; wear round

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "tack" is one way to...):

sail (travel on water propelled by wind)

Domain category:

navigation; pilotage; piloting (the guidance of ships or airplanes from place to place)

boat (a small vessel for travel on water)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

tack ((nautical) a line (rope or chain) that regulates the angle at which a sail is set in relation to the wind)

tack (the heading or position of a vessel relative to the trim of its sails)

tacking ((nautical) the act of changing tack)

Credits

 Context examples: 

I started, or rather (for like other defaulters, I like to lay half the blame on ill fortune and adverse circumstances) was thrust on to a wrong tack at the age of one-and-twenty, and have never recovered the right course since: but I might have been very different; I might have been as good as you—wiser—almost as stainless.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Meanwhile the schooner gradually fell off and filled again upon another tack, sailed swiftly for a minute or so, and brought up once more dead in the wind's eye.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

I set the sail, laid one tack out of the cove, and on the other tack made our own little inner cove.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

“I fear that we can scarce bide upon this tack,” cried Hawtayne; “and yet the other will drive us on the rocks.”

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

But he luffed the boat less delicately, spilling the wind shamelessly from the sail so as to prolong the tack to the north shore.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

The line-of-battle ships themselves, tacking on and off outside Brest, could earn nothing save honour; but the frigates in attendance made prizes of many coasters, and these, as is the rule of the service, were counted as belonging to the fleet, and their produce divided into head-money.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

We got the starboard tacks aboard, we cast off our weather-braces and lifts; we set in the lee-braces, and hauled forward by the weather-bowlings, and hauled them tight, and belayed them, and hauled over the mizen tack to windward, and kept her full and by as near as she would lie.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

'Bout ship, mates! This here crew is on a wrong tack, I do believe.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

There were swift commands on deck, a stamping of feet and a slapping of reef-points as the Ghost shot into the wind and about on the other tack.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

We must tack within three arrow flights, or we may find a rock through our timbers.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)