tuck

English

Etymology

Middle English tuken, touken "to torment, stretch [cloth]" from Old English tūcian "to torment, vex" and Middle Dutch tucken "to tuck", both from Proto-Germanic *teuh-, *teug- (“to draw, pull”), from Proto-Indo-European *deuk- (“to pull”). Akin to Old High German zucchen "to snatch, tug", zuchôn "to jerk", Old English tēon "to draw, pull, train". More at touch.

Pronunciation

• IPA: /tʰʌk/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌk

Verb

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

1. (transitive) To push the end (or ends) of a fabric-based item out of sight - as in "tuck in your shirt" or "I tucked in the sheet".
2. (transitive) To place somewhere safe or somewhat hidden

   He tucked the $10 bill into his shirt pocket.

3. (ergative) To fit neatly.

   The sofa tucks nicely into that corner.

   Kenwood House is tucked into a corner of Hampstead Heath.

4. To curl into a ball; to fold up and hold one's legs.

   The diver tucked, flipped, and opened up at the last moment.

5. To sew folds.
6. (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.

Antonyms

• untuck

Derived terms

• tuck away
• tuck in
• tuck into

Translations

push the end of fabric out of sight

Scottish Gaelic: trus (gd)

place somewhere safe or hidden

fit neatly

curl into a ball; fold up and hold one's legs

sew folds

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

French: petit pli, mettre, fourrer German: 1. stecken Spanish: meter (es) Telugu: దోపు (dOpu) (1), కుక్కు (kukku), బొక్కు (bokku) (2)

Noun

tuck (plural tucks)

1. A curled position.
2. (sewing) A fold in fabric that has been stiched in place from end to end, as to reduce the overall dimension of the fabric piece.
3. A plastic surgery technique to remove excess skin.
4. (slang) snack food. Derived from the expression "to tuck in to one's food" meaning "to eat up", "to guzzle".

Derived terms

• tuck shop

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Manx

Verb

tuck (verbal noun tuckal, past participle tuckit)

1. to full (cloth)

Synonyms

• walk
• giallee