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Tuck

//tʌk// name, noun, verb

Definitions

Proper Noun

1
A surname. countable, uncountable
2
A diminutive of the male given name Tucker. countable, uncountable
3
An unincorporated community in Daviess County, Kentucky, United States. countable, uncountable

Noun

1
An act of tucking; a pleat or fold. countable, uncountable
2
A rapier, a sword. archaic
"[…] with force he labour'd / To free's blade from retentive scabbard; / And after many a painful pluck, / From rusty durance he bail'd tuck […]"
3
The beat of a drum.
4
a straight sword with a narrow blade and two edges wordnet
5
A fold in fabric that has been stitched in place from end to end, as to reduce the overall dimension of the fabric piece. countable, uncountable

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6
a narrow flattened pleat or fold that is stitched in place wordnet
7
A curled position. countable, uncountable
8
(sports) a bodily position adopted in some sports (such as diving or skiing) in which the knees are bent and the thighs are drawn close to the chest wordnet
9
A plastic surgery technique to remove excess skin. countable, uncountable
"tummy tuck"
10
eatables (especially sweets) wordnet
11
The act of keeping the thumb in position while moving the rest of the hand over it to continue playing keys that are outside the thumb. countable, uncountable
12
A curled position, with the shins held towards the body. countable, uncountable
13
The afterpart of a ship, immediately under the stern or counter, where the ends of the bottom planks are collected and terminate by the tuck-rail. countable, uncountable
14
Food, especially snack food. British, India, dated, uncountable
"'What on earth do Coker and his parcel of tuck matter to us? You're not thinking of snooping his tuck, I suppose, like Bunter.'"

Verb

1
To pull or gather up (an item of fabric). transitive
2
draw together into folds or puckers wordnet
3
To push into a snug position; to place somewhere safe, or handy, or somewhat hidden. transitive
"Tuck in your shirt. I tucked in the sheet. He tucked the $10 bill into his shirt pocket."
4
fit snugly into wordnet
5
To eat; to consume. intransitive, often

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6
make a tuck or several folds in wordnet
7
To fit neatly. ergative
"The sofa tucks nicely into that corner."
8
To curl into a ball; to fold up and hold one's legs.
"The diver tucked, flipped, and opened up at the last moment."
9
To sew folds; to make a tuck or tucks in.
"to tuck a dress"
10
To full, as cloth.
11
Of a drag queen, trans woman, etc., to conceal one's penis and testicles, as with a gaff or by fastening them down with adhesive tape. ambitransitive
"Honey, have you tucked today? We don't wanna see anything nasty down there."
12
To keep the thumb in position while moving the rest of the hand over it to continue playing piano keys that are outside the thumb (when playing scales).
13
Ellipsis of Mach tuck. abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis
"Never take a first-generation Learjet past Mach 0.82; it'll tuck hard nose-down and you won't be able to pull out from the dive."

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English tuken, touken (“to torment, to stretch (cloth)”), from Old English tūcian (“to torment, vex”) and Middle Dutch tucken (“to tuck”), both from Proto-Germanic *teuh-, *teug- (“to draw, pull”) (compare also *tukkōną), from Proto-Indo-European *dewk- (“to pull”). Akin to Old High German zucchen (“to snatch, tug”), zuchôn (“to jerk”), German Low German tuken (“to tug, pluck, grab and pull towards”), Old English tēon (“to draw, pull, train”). Doublet of touch.

Etymology 2

Etymology 3

From Old French estoc (“rapier”), from Italian stocco (“a truncheon, a short sword”). Doublet of estoc.

Etymology 4

Compare tocsin.

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