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ticktack

or tick-tack

[ tik-tak ]

noun

  1. a repetitive sound, as of ticking, tapping, knocking, or clicking:

    the ticktack of high heels in the corridor.

  2. a device for making a tapping sound, as against a window or door in playing a practical joke.


verb (used without object)

  1. to make a repeated ticking or tapping sound:

    Sleet ticktacked against the window panes.

ticktack

/ ˈtɪkˌtæk /

noun

  1. a system of sign language, mainly using the hands, by which bookmakers transmit their odds to each other at racecourses
  2. a ticking sound, as made by a clock
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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Word History and Origins

Origin of ticktack1

1540–50; imitative See tick 1
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Word History and Origins

Origin of ticktack1

from tick 1
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Example Sentences

The regular ticktack of the machine guns and the cracking of the shells were distinctly heard even among the terrific noises of the bombardment.

To these may be added a dozen or more which seem to be of doubtful formation, such as huckaback, pickapack, gimcrack, ticktack, picknick, barrack, knapsack, hollyhock, shamrock, hammock, hillock, hammock, bullock, roebuck.

Utter silence descended upon the court room—silence broken only by the slow ticktack of the self-winding clock on the rear wall and the whine of the electric cars on Park Row.

Verily, to such measure and ticktack, it liketh neither to dance nor to stand still.

To small virtues would they fain lure and laud me; to the ticktack of small happiness would they fain persuade my foot.

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