(n.) A peculiar flavor or taint; as, a musty tack.
(n.) A small, short, sharp-pointed nail, usually having a broad, flat head.
(n.) That which is attached; a supplement; an appendix. See Tack, v. t., 3.
(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.
(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).
(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.
(v. t.) A contract by which the use of a thing is set, or let, for hire; a lease.
(v. t.) Confidence; reliance.
(v. t.) To fasten or attach.
(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.
(v. t.) In parliamentary usage, to add (a supplement) to a bill; to append; -- often with on or to.
(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.
(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.
Example Sentences:
(1) Tiny, tiny... rodents – some soft and grey, some brown with black stripes, in paintings, posters, wallcharts, thumb-tacked magazine clippings and poorly executed crayon drawings, hurling themselves fatally in their thousands over the cliff of their island home; or crudely taxidermied and mounted, eyes glazed and little paws frozen stiff – on every available surface.
(2) But fresh evidence that waiting times are creeping up, despite David Cameron's pledge to keep them low, has forced Lansley to change tack and impose an extra treatment directive on the NHS.
(3) The Department for Culture, Media and Sport also left the door open for a change of tack over the use of the licence fee, saying that if "better options than the government's preferred one emerge in the meantime", it will "consider them".
(4) Two eyes with complex detachments with fixed rolled retinas could not have been repaired without the help of retinal tacks.
(5) The government needs to change tack and admit that its obsession with structural changes to schools has failed.” Ofsted chief criticises independent schools' lack of help for state schools Read more Wilshaw’s letter was based on the results of inspections of the management and operations of seven academy chains running 220 schools across the country: AET, E-Act, Wakefield City Academies, Oasis, CfBT, The Education Fellowship and the most recent, School Partnership Trust Academies (SPTA).
(6) "It was done to silence her," Akbulatov says, speaking in Memorial's office, a colour photo of Estemirova tacked to the wall.
(7) On some issues - particularly Europe - Lib Dems in the south have to tack more to the right.
(8) Syrian security forces were reported to have launched another wave of violence against pro-democracy protesters on Tuesday as President Bashar al-Assad rejected a Turkish appeal to change tack or meet the fate of Libya's Muammar Gaddafi.
(9) The prospect of Front National gains has left Sarkozy's ruling UMP party, a broad coalition of centre right and rightwing factions, scrapping over what tack to take to hang on to their seats.
(10) In the face of popular passions about immigration and the European Union, the Labour party has bobbed and tacked without taking a clear line.
(11) Along with some of his fellow Rangers, he walked me through the program – a strong, impressive young man, with an easy manner, sharp as a tack.
(12) An improved retinal tack and applicator can be used to fix the retina to the wall of the eye mechanically.
(13) In monkey eyes, histological examination disclosed a considerable fibrovascular proliferation around the retinal tack canal, including an inflammatory response, formation of collagenous tissue and glial proliferation.
(14) The correlation between the results of all these researches leaves little doubt on the existence of eye-tacking dysfunctions in schizophrenics.
(15) A previous owner tacked on additional rooms seemingly at random, giving the impression of a mad, elongated cottage with an internal maze.
(16) It's a change of tack for the Playboy brand after some troubled decades, and many believe this return to affluent values and women dressed as rabbits is exactly the right move.
(17) When practiced by several surgeons, the flap tacking procedure 1) reduces postmastectomy seromas and 2) reduces the amount of postoperative patient office visits and care.
(18) Those changes have not altered the fundamental structure of the system, but instead have been tacked onto it, and exemplify what may be termed additive reform.
(19) 4.09am GMT Saints 23-24 Eagles, 4:44, 4th quarter The Saints certainly have time here to respond, and in fact they might need so slow things down themselves after moving immediately up to the 48-yard line on a nice Darren Sproles kick return that had an additional 15 yards tacked on the end for a horsecollar tackle.
(20) Tritiated thymidine autoradiography was used to evaluate the proliferation of ocular tissues in response to tack insertion.