tick-tack-toe

or tick-tack-too tic-tac-toe, tit-tat-toe

[ tik-tak-toh ]

noun

1. a simple game in which one player marks down only X's and another only O's, each alternating in filling in any of the nine compartments of a figure formed by two vertical lines crossed by two horizontal lines, the winner being the first to fill in three marks in any horizontal, vertical, or diagonal row.
2. a children's game consisting of trying, with the eyes shut, to bring a pencil down upon one of a set of circled numbers, as on a slate, the number touched being counted as a score.

tick-tack-toe

/ ˌtɪktækˈtuː; ˌtɪktækˈtəʊ /

noun

1. a game in which two players, one using a nought, "O", the other a cross, "X", alternately mark one square out of nine formed by two pairs of crossed lines, the winner being the first to get three of his symbols in a row Also called (in Britain and certain other countries)noughts and crosses

Word History and Origins

Origin of tick-tack-toe¹

1865–70; imitative of sound, as of bringing a pencil down on slate; ticktack

Word History and Origins

Origin of tick-tack-toe¹

C19: from ticktack (meaning: an obsolete variety of backgammon)

Example Sentences

We may be seen that way, but there's no use spending any more time here playing tick-tack-toe on that wood up there.

From Project Gutenberg