tuck

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Contents

English[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

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”) (cf. also *tukkōną), from Proto-Indo-European *dewk- (“to pull”). Akin to Old High German zucchen (“to snatch, tug”), zuchôn (“to jerk”), Old English tēon (“to draw, pull, train”). More at touch.

Verb[edit]

tuck (third-person singular simple present tucks, present participle tucking, simple past and past participle tucked)

  1. (transitive) To pull or gather up (an item of fabric). [From 14thC.]
  2. (transitive) To push into a snug position; to place somewhere safe or somewhat hidden. [From 1580s.]
    Tuck in your shirt.
    I tucked in the sheet.
    He tucked the $10 bill into his shirt pocket.
  3. (intransitive, often with "in" or "into") To eat; to consume. [From 1780s.]
  4. (ergative) To fit neatly.
    The sofa tucks nicely into that corner.
    Kenwood House is tucked into a corner of Hampstead Heath.
  5. To curl into a ball; to fold up and hold one's legs.
    The diver tucked, flipped, and opened up at the last moment.
  6. To sew folds.
  7. (of a drag queen) To conceal one's genitals, especially by fastening them down with adhesive tape.
    Honey, have you tucked today? We don't wanna see anything nasty down there.
  8. (when playing scales on piano keys) To keep the thumb in position while moving the rest of the hand over it to continue playing keys that are outside the thumb.
Antonyms[edit]
Derived terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
push the end of fabric out of sight
place somewhere safe or hidden
fit neatly
curl into a ball; fold up and hold one's legs
sew folds
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Translations to be checked

Noun[edit]

tuck (plural tucks)

  1. An act of tucking; a pleat or fold. [From late 14thC.]
  2. (sewing) A fold in fabric that has been stitched in place from end to end, as to reduce the overall dimension of the fabric piece.
  3. Food.
  4. (informal) Snack food.
  5. A curled position.
  6. (medicine, surgery) A plastic surgery technique to remove excess skin.
  7. (music, piano, when playing scales on piano keys) 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.
  8. (diving) A curled position, with the shins held towards the body.
Derived terms[edit]
Related terms[edit]

Etymology 2[edit]

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

Noun[edit]

tuck (plural tucks)

  1. (archaic) A rapier, a sword.
    • 1663, Hudibras, by Samuel Butler, part 1, canto 2
      [...] 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 [...]
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Shakespeare to this entry?)
    • Sir Walter Scott
      He wore large hose, and a tuck, as it was then called, or rapier, of tremendous length.
Translations[edit]
short sword — see rapier

Manx[edit]

Verb[edit]

tuck (verbal noun tuckal, past participle tuckit)

  1. to full (cloth)

Synonyms[edit]

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