ticking

English

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ɪkɪŋ

Noun

ticking (plural tickings)

1. A strong cotton or linen fabric used to cover pillows and mattresses.
   • 1897, Kipling, Captains Courageous, chapter 1

     Harvey saw with disgust that there were no sheets on his bed-place. He was lying on a piece of dingy ticking full of lumps and nubbles.

2. A sound of something ticking.
   • Laman Blanchard, The Frolics of Time

     Were they indeed the tickings of a hundred clocks — the fine low inward breathings of Time's children!

3. An illusional style of dance where one moves his or her body to the "tic" of the music creating a strobe or animated effect.
4. A marking that occurs on some horses. It involves white flecks of hair at the flank, and white hairs at the base of the tail, called a skunk tail or rabicano. Sometimes referred to as birdcatcher ticks.

Derived terms

• the clock is ticking

See also

• ticking in the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica.

Verb

ticking

1. Present participle of tick.