Definition of tacks Tacks
/tæˈks/ - [taks] -
We found 3 definitions of tacks from 2 different sources.
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What does tacks mean?
Wiktionary 
- tacks (Noun)
Plural of tack.
Part of speech
🔤WordNet
NounPlural: tacks |
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| tack - a short nail with a sharp point and a large head | ||
| nail a thin pointed piece of metal that is hammered into materials as a fastener | ||
| carpet tack used to nail down carpets | ||
| drawing pin, pushpin, thumbtack a tack for attaching papers to a bulletin board or drawing board | ||
| tack - (nautical) the act of changing tack | ||
| tacking | ||
| change of course a change in the direction that you are moving | ||
| seafaring, navigation, sailing the work of a sailor | ||
| tack - the heading or position of a vessel relative to the trim of its sails | ||
| heading, aim, bearing a line of text serving to indicate what the passage below it is about; "the heading seemed to have little to do with the text" | ||
| tack - sailing a zigzag course | ||
| tack - gear for a horse | ||
| stable gear, saddlery | ||
| paraphernalia, appurtenance, gear a toothed wheel that engages another toothed mechanism in order to change the speed or direction of transmitted motion | ||
| bit the cutting part of a drill; usually pointed and threaded and is replaceable in a brace or bitstock or drill press; "he looked around for the right size bit" | ||
| caparison, trapping, housing stable gear consisting of a decorated covering for a horse, especially (formerly) for a warhorse | ||
| girth, cinch the distance around a person's body | ||
| 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 | ||
| tack - (nautical) a line (rope or chain) that regulates the angle at which a sail is set in relation to the wind | ||
| sheet, mainsheet, weather sheet, shroud | ||
| line acting in conformity; "in line with"; "he got out of line"; "toe the line" | ||
| ship a vessel that carries passengers or freight | ||
| seafaring, navigation, sailing the work of a sailor | ||
Verb |
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| tack - fasten with tacks; "tack the notice on the board" | ||
| fasten, secure, fix attach to; "They fastened various nicknames to each other" | ||
| tack on, tag on, append, hang on, tack fix to; attach; "append a charm to the necklace" | ||
| thumbtack fasten with thumbtacks; "The teacher thumbtacked the notice on the bulletin board" | ||
| tack - turn into the wind; "The sailors decided to tack the boat"; "The boat tacked" | ||
| wear round | ||
| sail traverse or travel on (a body of water); "We sailed the Atlantic"; "He sailed the Pacific all alone" | ||
| boat a small vessel for travel on water | ||
| pilotage, piloting, navigation the occupation of a pilot | ||
| tack - create by putting components or members together; "She pieced a quilt"; "He tacked together some verses"; "They set up a committee" | ||
| assemble, piece, put together, set up, tack together | ||
| disassemble, break apart, dismantle, take apart, break up take apart into its constituent pieces | ||
| bring together, join make contact or come together; "The two roads join here" | ||
| create, make create by artistic means; "create a poem"; "Schoenberg created twelve-tone music"; "Picasso created Cubism"; "Auden made verses" | ||
| comfit, confection, confect make into a confection; "This medicine is home-confected" | ||
| mix up, jumble, confuse assemble without order or sense; "She jumbles the words when she is supposed to write a sentence" | ||
| reassemble assemble once again, after taking something apart | ||
| configure set up for a particular purpose; "configure my new computer"; "configure a plane for a combat mission" | ||
| compound put or add together; "combine resources" | ||
| rig up erect or construct, especially as a temporary measure; "Can he rig up a P.A. system?" | ||
| tack - reverse (a direction, attitude, or course of action) | ||
| interchange, switch, alternate, flip, flip-flop | ||
| change by reversal, reverse, turn change to the contrary; "The trend was reversed"; "the tides turned against him"; "public opinion turned when it was revealed that the president had an affair with a White House intern" | ||
| tack - fix to; attach; "append a charm to the necklace" | ||
| append, tag on, tack on, hang on | ||
| attach be attached; be in contact with | ||
| subjoin add to the end | ||
| tack - sew together loosely, with large stitches; "baste a hem" | ||
| baste | ||
| sew together, stitch, sew, run up fasten by sewing; do needlework | ||
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Wiktionary
- tack (Noun)
A small nail with a flat head. - tack (Noun)
A thumbtack. - tack (Noun)
A loose seam used to temporarily fasten pieces of cloth. - tack (Noun)
The lower corner on the leading edge of a sail relative to the direction of the wind. - tack (Noun)
A course or heading that enables a sailing vessel to head upwind. See also reach, gybe. - tack (Noun)
A direction or course of action, especially a new one. - tack (Noun)
The maneuver by which a sailing vessel turns its bow through the wind so that the wind changes from one side to the other. - tack (Noun)
The distance a sailing vessel runs between these maneuvers when working to windward; a board. - tack (Noun)
Any of the various equipment and accessories worn by horses in the course of their use as domesticated animals. Saddles, stirrups, bridles, halters, reins, bits, harnesses, martingales, and breastplates are all forms of horse tack. - tack (Noun)
The stickiness of a compound, related to its cohesive and adhesive properties. - tack (Verb)
To nail with a tack small nail with a flat head. - tack (Verb)
To sew/stich with a tack loose seam used to temporarily fasten pieces of cloth. - tack (Verb)
To maneuver a sailing vessel so that its bow turns through the wind, i. e. the wind changes from one side of the vessel to the other. - tack (Verb)
To add something as an extra item. - tack (Verb)
Often paired with "up"", to place the tack on a horse.
Webster DictionaryWebster's Unabridged Dictionary 📘
- tack (n.)
A stain; a tache. - tack (n.)
A peculiar flavor or taint; as, a musty tack. - tack (n.)
A small, short, sharp-pointed nail, usually having a broad, flat head. - tack (n.)
That which is attached; a supplement; an appendix. See Tack, v. t., 3. - tack (v. t.)
A rope used to hold in place the foremost lower corners of the courses when the vessel is closehauled (see Illust. of Ship); also, a rope employed to pull the lower corner of a studding sail to the boom. - tack (v. t.)
The part of a sail to which the tack is usually fastened; the foremost lower corner of fore-and-aft sails, as of schooners (see Illust. of Sail). - tack (v. t.)
The direction of a vessel in regard to the trim of her sails; as, the starboard tack, or port tack; -- the former when she is closehauled with the wind on her starboard side; hence, the run of a vessel on one tack; also, a change of direction. - tack (v. t.)
A contract by which the use of a thing is set, or let, for hire; a lease. - tack (v. t.)
Confidence; reliance. - tack (v. t.)
To fasten or attach. - tack (v. t.)
Especially, to attach or secure in a slight or hasty manner, as by stitching or nailing; as, to tack together the sheets of a book; to tack one piece of cloth to another; to tack on a board or shingle; to tack one piece of metal to another by drops of solder. - tack (v. t.)
In parliamentary usage, to add (a supplement) to a bill; to append; -- often with on or to. - tack (v. t.)
To change the direction of (a vessel) when sailing closehauled, by putting the helm alee and shifting the tacks and sails so that she will proceed to windward nearly at right angles to her former course. - tack (v. i.)
To change the direction of a vessel by shifting the position of the helm and sails; also (as said of a vessel), to have her direction changed through the shifting of the helm and sails. See Tack, v. t., 4.
OmegaWiki DictionaryOmegaWiki Dictionary Ω
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tack
A nail with a large head. -
tack
A small nail with a head and a sharp point.
Chambers DictionaryChamber's 20th Century Dictionary 📕
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tack
tak, n. a short, sharp nail with a broad head: a fastening, a long temporary stitch: the weather clew or foremost lower corner of any of the courses, or of any sail set with a boom or gaff, or of a flag, also the rope by which such clew or tack is confined or fastened: the course of a ship in reference to the position of her sails: a determinate course, the art of tacking, hence a change of policy, a strategical move: a shelf for drying cheese: term of a lease: adhesiveness, sticky condition, as of varnish, &c.—v.t. to attach or fasten, esp. in a slight manner, as by tacks.—v.i. to change the course or tack of a ship by shifting the position of the sails: to shift one's position, to veer.—adj. Tack′y, adhesive, viscous. [Most prob. Celt., Ir. taca, a pin, Bret. tach, a nail.] -
tack
tak, n. (prov.) any distinctive and permanent flavour -
tack
tak, n. food generally, fare, esp. of the bread kind, as hard tack, soft tack, &c
Marine DictionaryUniversal Dictionary of the Marine ⚓️
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tack
couet, a rope used to confine the foremost lower-corners of the courses and stay-sails in a fixed position, when the wind crosses the ship’s course obliquely. The same name is also given to the rope employed to pull out the lower corner of a studding-sail or driver to the extremity of its boom.The main-sail and fore-sail of a ship are furnished with a tack on each side, which is formed of a thick rope tapering to the end, and having a knot wrought upon the largest end, by which it is firmly retained in the clue of the sail. By this means one tack is always fastened to windward, at the same time that the sheet extends the sail to leeward. See CHESTREE. -
tack
is also applied, by analogy, to that part of any sail to which the tack is usually fastened.A ship is said to be on the starboard or larboard tack, when she is close-hauled, with the wind upon the starboard or larboard side; and in this sense the distance which she sails in that position is considered as the length of the tack; although this is more frequently called a BOARD. See that article.To TACK, virer vent devant, to change the course from one board to another, or turn the ship about from the starboard to the larboard tack, in a contrary wind. Thus the ship A, fig. 2. plate XI. being close-hauled on the larboard tack, and turning her prow suddenly to windward, receives the impression of the wind on her head-sails a, by which she falls off upon the line of the starboard tack a. Tacking is also used, in a more enlarged sense, to imply that manœuvre, in navigation, by which a ship makes an oblique progression to the windward, in a zigzag direction. This, however, is more usually called beating or turning to windward. See BEATING and TURNING.Thus, suppose a ship A, fig. 2. plate XI. bound to a port B lying to windward, with the wind northerly, as expressed by the arrow. The sails a, b, c, being braced obliquely with the keel, the wind also falls upon their surfaces in an oblique direction, by which the ship is pushed to leeward, as explained in the article LEE-WAY. Hence, although she apparently sails W. N. W. upon the larboard tack, as expressed in the dotted line A d, and E. N. E. upon the other d f, yet if the lee-way is only one point, (and indeed it is seldom less in the smoothest water), the course will accordingly be W. by N. upon one tack, and E. by N. upon the other, as represented by the lines A e, and e g.If the port A were directly to windward of the ship, it is evident that both tacks ought to be of equal length; or, in other words, that she ought to run the same distance upon each tack: but as the place of her destination lies obliquely to windward, she must run a greater distance upon one tack than the other; because the extremities of both boards should be equally distant from the line of her true course B A; so the larboard tack A e, crossing the course more obliquely than the other e g, will necessarily be much longer.As the true course, or the direct distance from B to A, is only 12 leagues, it is evident, that with a favourable wind she could reach it in a few hours. On the contrary, her distance is considerably increased by the length of her boards, in a contrary wind; which, by its obliquity with her sails, operates also to retard her velocity. Thus her first board A e, on a W. by N. course, is equal to 5.7 leagues. The second tack e g is 9.2 leagues E. by N.: the third tack, parallel to A e, is 11.5: the fourth, parallel to e g, is 9.2: and the fifth, parallel to the first, 11.7 leagues. Finally, the sixth board is 4.8 leagues, parallel to the second, which brings her to the port B. By this scheme it appears that she has run more than four times the extent of the line A B, her primitive distance; and this in the most favourable circumstances of a contrary wind, viz. when the sea is smooth, and when she may carry her full topsails. For if the wind blows stronger, to render it necessary to reef the topsails, she will soon make two points of lee-way, and accordingly run east on one board, and west on the other. In this situation she will neither approach, nor recede from the place of her destination: but if the wind increases, the sea will also be enlarged; a circumstance that still farther augments the lee-way. Hence the vessel will gradually fall off from the port, in proportion to the augmentation of the wind and sea, which occasions a proportional increase of lee-way.In order to explain the theory of tacking a ship, it may be necessary to premise a known axiom in natural philosophy, That every body will persevere in a state of rest, or of moving uniformly in a right line, unless it be compelled to change its state by forces impressed; and that the change of motion is proportional to the moving force impressed, and is made according to the right line in which that force is exerted.By this principle it is easy to conceive how a ship is compelled to turn into any direction, by the force of the wind acting upon her sails, in horizontal lines. For the sails may be so arranged as to receive the current of air, either directly, or more or less obliquely: hence the motion communicated to the sails must of necessity conspire with that of the wind upon their surfaces. To make the ship tack, or turn round with her head to the windward, it is therefore necessary, after she has received the first impression from the helm, that the head-sails should be so disposed as to diminish the effort of the wind, in the first instant of her motion, and that the whole force of the wind should be exerted on the after-sails, which operating on the ship’s stern, carries it round like a weather-cock. But since the action of the after-sails, to turn the ship, will unavoidably cease when her head points to the windward, it then becomes necessary to use the head-sails, to prevent her from falling-off, and returning to her former situation. These are accordingly laid aback on the lee-side, to push the vessel’s fore-part towards the opposite side, till she has fallen into the line of her course thereon, and fixed her sails to conform with that situation.It has been observed above, that the first effort to turn the ship in tacking is communicated by the helm, which is then put to the lee-side. This circumstance being announced by the pilot, or commanding-officer, who then calls out, Helm’s a-lee! the head-sails are immediately made to shiver in the wind, by casting loose their sheets, or bowlines. The pilot then calls, Up tacks and sheets! which is executed by loosening all the ropes which confine the corners of the lower sails, in order that they may be more readily shifted to the other side. When the ship has turned her head directly to windward, as in d, fig. 2. plate XI. the pilot gives the order to turn about the sails on the main and mizen masts, by the exclamation, Haul main-sail, haul! the bowlines and braces are then instantly cast off on one side, and as expeditiously drawn in on the other side, so as to wheel the yards about their masts: the lower corner of the main-sail is, by means of its tack, pulled down to its station at the chestree; and all the after-sails are, at the same time, adjusted to stand upon the other board. Finally, when the ship has fallen off five or six points, as h, fig. 2. plate XI. the pilot cries, Haul of all! or, Let go, and haul! the sails on the fore-mast are wheeled about by their braces: and as the ship has then a tendency to fall off, she is checked by the effort of the helm, which for that purpose is put hard a-lee. The fore-tack, or the lower corner of the fore-sail, being fixed in its place, the bowlines are hauled; and the other sails, which have been neglected in the hurry of tacking, are properly arranged to the wind, which exercise is called trimming the sails. See LEE-WAY and SAILING.
Sailor's Word-BookThe Sailor's Word-Book ⛵
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tack
A rope to confine the weather lower corners of the courses and staysails when the wind crosses the ship's course obliquely. Also, the rope employed to haul out the lower outer clue of a studding-sail to the boom-end. With jibs and fore-and-aft sails, the tack confines them amidships. A ship is said to be on the tack of the side from which the wind comes: even if it be on the quarter.--To tack. To go about, to change the course from one board to another from the starboard to the port tack, or vice versâ. It is done by turning the ship's head suddenly to the wind, whereby her head-sails are thrown aback, and cause her to fall off from the wind to the other tack. The opposite to wearing.
