Ticker noun [ See Tick .] One who, or that which, ticks, or produces a ticking sound, as a watch or clock, a telegraphic sounder, etc.

Ticker noun A telegraphic receiving instrument that automatically prints off stock quotations ( stock ticker ) and other news on a paper ribbon or "tape."

Ticket noun [ French étiquette a label, ticket, from Old French estiquette , or Old French etiquet , estiquet ; both of Teutonic origin, and akin to English stick . See Stick , noun & v. , and confer Etiquette , Tick credit.] A small piece of paper, cardboard, or the like, serving as a notice, certificate, or distinguishing token of something. Specifically: --

(a) A little note or notice. [ Obsolete or Local]

He constantly read his lectures twice a week for above forty years, giving notice of the time to his auditors in a ticket on the school doors.

Fuller.

(b) A tradesman's bill or account. [ Obsolete]

» Hence the phrase on ticket , on account; whence, by abbreviation, came the phrase on tick . See 1st Tick .

Your courtier is mad to take up silks and velvets
On ticket for his mistress.

J. Cotgrave.

(c) A certificate or token of right of admission to a place of assembly, or of passage in a public conveyance; as, a theater ticket ; a railroad or steamboat ticket .

(d) A label to show the character or price of goods.

(e) A certificate or token of a share in a lottery or other scheme for distributing money, goods, or the like.

(f) (Politics) A printed list of candidates to be voted for at an election; a set of nominations by one party for election; a ballot. [ U. S.]

The old ticket forever! We have it by thirty-four votes.

Sarah Franklin (1766).

Scratched ticket , a ticket from which the names of one or more of the candidates are scratched out. -- Split ticket , a ticket representing different divisions of a party, or containing candidates selected from two or more parties. -- Straight ticket , a ticket containing the regular nominations of a party, without change. -- Ticket day (Com.) , the day before the settling or pay day on the stock exchange, when the names of the actual purchasers are rendered in by one stockbroker to another. [ Eng.] Simmonds. -- Ticket of leave , a license or permit given to a convict, or prisoner of the crown, to go at large, and to labor for himself before the expiration of his sentence, subject to certain specific conditions. [ Eng.] Simmonds. -- Ticket porter , a licensed porter wearing a badge by which he may be identified. [ Eng.]

Ticket transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Ticketed ; present participle & verbal noun Ticketing .]
1. To distinguish by a ticket; to put a ticket on; as, to ticket goods.

2. To furnish with a tickets; to book; as, to ticket passengers to California. [ U. S.]

Ticketing noun A periodical sale of ore in the English mining districts; -- so called from the tickets upon which are written the bids of the buyers.

Ticking noun [ From Tick a bed cover. Confer Ticken .] A strong, closely woven linen or cotton fabric, of which ticks for beds are made. It is usually twilled, and woven in stripes of different colors, as white and blue; -- called also ticken .

Tickle transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Tickled ; present participle & verbal noun Tickling .] [ Perhaps freq. of tick to beat; pat; but confer also Anglo-Saxon citelian to tickle, Dutch kittelen , German kitzlen , Old High German chizzilōn , chuzzilōn , Icelandic kitla . Confer Kittle , transitive verb ]
1. To touch lightly, so as to produce a peculiar thrilling sensation, which commonly causes laughter, and a kind of spasm which become dengerous if too long protracted.

If you tickle us, do we not laugh?

Shak.

2. To please; to gratify; to make joyous.

Pleased with a rattle, tickled with a straw.

Pope.

Such a nature
Tickled with good success, disdains the shadow
Which he treads on at noon.

Shak.

Tickle intransitive verb
1. To feel titillation.

He with secret joy therefore
Did tickle inwardly in every vein.

Spenser.

2. To excite the sensation of titillation. Shak.

Tickle adjective
1. Ticklish; easily tickled. [ Obsolete]

2. Liable to change; uncertain; inconstant. [ Obsolete]

The world is now full tickle , sikerly.

Chaucer.

So tickle is the state of earthy things.

Spenser.

3. Wavering, or liable to waver and fall at the slightest touch; unstable; easily overthrown. [ Obsolete]

Thy head stands so tickle on thy shoulders, that a milkmaid, if she be in love, may sigh it off.

Shak.

Tickle-footed adjective Uncertain; inconstant; slippery. [ Obsolete & R.] Beau. & Fl.

Ticklenburg noun A coarse, mixed linen fabric made to be sold in the West Indies.

Tickleness noun Unsteadiness. [ Obsolete]

For hoard hath hate, and climbing tickleness .

Chaucer.

Tickler noun
1. One who, or that which, tickles.

2. Something puzzling or difficult.

3. A book containing a memorandum of notes and debts arranged in the order of their maturity. [ Com. Cant, U. S.] Bartlett.

4. A prong used by coopers to extract bungs from casks. [ Eng.]

Ticklish adjective
1. Sensible to slight touches; easily tickled; as, the sole of the foot is very ticklish ; the hardened palm of the hand is not ticklish . Bacon.

2. Standing so as to be liable to totter and fall at the slightest touch; unfixed; easily affected; unstable.

Can any man with comfort lodge in a condition so dismally ticklish ?

Barrow.

3. Difficult; nice; critical; as, a ticklish business.

Surely princes had need, in tender matters and ticklish times, to beware what they say.

Bacon.

-- Tic"klish*ly , adverb -- Tic"klish*ness , noun

Tickseed noun [ Tick the insect + seed ; confer German wanzensamen , literally, bug seed.]
1. A seed or fruit resembling in shape an insect, as that of certain plants.

2. (Botany) (a) Same as Coreopsis . (b) Any plant of the genus Corispermum , plants of the Goosefoot family.

Ticktack noun [ See Tick to beat, to pat, and (for sense 2) confer Tricktrack .]
1. A noise like that made by a clock or a watch.

2. A kind of backgammon played both with men and pegs; tricktrack.

A game at ticktack with words.

Milton.

Ticktack adverb With a ticking noise, like that of a watch.

Ticpolonga noun [ Native name.] (Zoology) A very venomous viper ( Daboia Russellii ), native of Ceylon and India; -- called also cobra monil .

Tid adjective [ Confer Anglo-Saxon tedre , tydere , weak, tender.] Tender; soft; nice; -- now only used in tid bit.

Tidal adjective Of or pertaining to tides; caused by tides; having tides; periodically rising and falling, or following and ebbing; as, tidal waters.

The tidal wave of deeper souls
Into our inmost being rolls,
And lifts us unawares
Out of all meaner cares.

Longfellow.

Tidal air (Physiol.) , the air which passes in and out of the lungs in ordinary breathing. It varies from twenty to thirty cubic inches. -- Tidal basin , a dock that is filled at the rising of the tide. -- Tidal wave . (a) See Tide wave , under Tide . Confer 4th Bore . (b) A vast, swift wave caused by an earthquake or some extraordinary combination of natural causes. It rises far above high-water mark and is often very destructive upon low-lying coasts.

Tidbit noun [ Tid + bit .] A delicate or tender piece of anything eatable; a delicious morsel. [ Written also titbit .]

Tidde obsolete imperfect of Tide , intransitive verb Chaucer.

Tidder, Tiddle transitive verb [ Confer Anglo-Saxon tyderian to grow tender. See Tid .] To use with tenderness; to fondle. [ Obsolete or Prov. Eng.]

Tiddledywinks noun A game in which the object is to snap small disks of bone, ivory, or the like, from a flat surface, as of a table, into a small cup or basket; -- called also tiddlywinks . [ U. S.]

Tiddlywinks noun Same as Tiddledywinks . Kipling.

Tide noun [ Anglo-Saxon tīd time; akin to Old Saxon & OFries. tīd , Dutch tijd , German zeit , Old High German zīt , Icelandic tī... , Swedish & Danish tid , and probably to Sanskrit aditi unlimited, endless, where a- is a negative prefix. √58. Confer Tidings , Tidy , Till , preposition , Time .]
1. Time; period; season. [ Obsoles.] "This lusty summer's tide ." Chaucer.

And rest their weary limbs a tide .

Spenser.

Which, at the appointed tide ,
Each one did make his bride.

Spenser.

At the tide of Christ his birth.

Fuller.

2. The alternate rising and falling of the waters of the ocean, and of bays, rivers, etc., connected therewith. The tide ebbs and flows twice in each lunar day, or the space of a little more than twenty-four hours. It is occasioned by the attraction of the sun and moon (the influence of the latter being three times that of the former), acting unequally on the waters in different parts of the earth, thus disturbing their equilibrium. A high tide upon one side of the earth is accompanied by a high tide upon the opposite side. Hence, when the sun and moon are in conjunction or opposition, as at new moon and full moon, their action is such as to produce a greater than the usual tide, called the spring tide , as represented in the cut. When the moon is in the first or third quarter, the sun's attraction in part counteracts the effect of the moon's attraction, thus producing under the moon a smaller tide than usual, called the neap tide .

» The flow or rising of the water is called flood tide , and the reflux, ebb tide .

3. A stream; current; flood; as, a tide of blood. "Let in the tide of knaves once more; my cook and I'll provide." Shak.

4. Tendency or direction of causes, influences, or events; course; current.

There is a tide in the affairs of men,
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune.

Shak.

5. Violent confluence. [ Obsolete] Bacon.

6. (Mining) The period of twelve hours.

Atmospheric tides , tidal movements of the atmosphere similar to those of the ocean, and produced in the same manner by the attractive forces of the sun and moon. -- Inferior tide . See under Inferior , adjective -- To work double tides . See under Work , transitive verb -- Tide day , the interval between the occurrences of two consecutive maxima of the resultant wave at the same place. Its length varies as the components of sun and moon waves approach to, or recede from, one another. A retardation from this cause is called the lagging of the tide, while the acceleration of the recurrence of high water is termed the priming of the tide. See Lag of the tide , under 2d Lag . -- Tide dial , a dial to exhibit the state of the tides at any time. -- Tide gate . (a) An opening through which water may flow freely when the tide sets in one direction, but which closes automatically and prevents the water from flowing in the other direction. (b) (Nautical) A place where the tide runs with great velocity, as through a gate. -- Tide gauge , a gauge for showing the height of the tide; especially, a contrivance for registering the state of the tide continuously at every instant of time. Brande & C. -- Tide lock , a lock situated between an inclosed basin, or a canal, and the tide water of a harbor or river, when they are on different levels, so that craft can pass either way at all times of the tide; -- called also guard lock . -- Tide mill . (a) A mill operated by the tidal currents. (b) A mill for clearing lands from tide water. -- Tide rip , a body of water made rough by the conflict of opposing tides or currents. -- Tide table , a table giving the time of the rise and fall of the tide at any place. - - Tide water , water affected by the flow of the tide; hence, broadly, the seaboard. -- Tide wave , or Tidal wave , the swell of water as the tide moves. That of the ocean is called primitive ; that of bays or channels derivative . Whewell. -- Tide wheel , a water wheel so constructed as to be moved by the ebb or flow of the tide.

Tide transitive verb To cause to float with the tide; to drive or carry with the tide or stream.

They are tided down the stream.

Feltham.

Tide intransitive verb [ Anglo-Saxon tīdan to happen. See Tide , noun ]
1. To betide; to happen. [ Obsolete]

What should us tide of this new law?

Chaucer.

2. To pour a tide or flood.

3. (Nautical) To work into or out of a river or harbor by drifting with the tide and anchoring when it becomes adverse.

Tide-rode adjective (Nautical) Swung by the tide when at anchor; -- opposed to wind-rode .

Tided adjective Affected by the tide; having a tide. "The tided Thames." Bp. Hall.

Tideland noun Land that is overflowed by tide water; hence, land near the sea.

Tideless adjective Having no tide.

Tidesman noun ; plural Tidesmen A customhouse officer who goes on board of a merchant ship to secure payment of the duties; a tidewaiter.

Tidewaiter noun A customhouse officer who watches the landing of goods from merchant vessels, in order to secure payment of duties. Swift.

Tideway noun Channel in which the tide sets.

Tidife noun The blue titmouse. [ Prov. Eng.]

» The "tidif" mentioned in Chaucer is by some supposed to be the titmouse, by others the wren.

Tidily adverb In a tidy manner.

Tidiness noun The quality or state of being tidy.

Tiding noun Tidings. [ Obsolete] Chaucer.

Tidings noun plural [ Middle English tidinge , ti...inge , tidinde , from or influenced by Icelandic tī...indi ; akin to Danish tidende , Swedish tidning , German zeung , Anglo-Saxon tīdan to happen, E. be tide , tide . See Tide , intransitive verb & noun ] Account of what has taken place, and was not before known; news.

I shall make my master glad with these tidings .

Shak.

Full well the busy whisper, circling round,
Conveyed the dismal tidings when he frowned.

Goldsmith.

» Although tidings is plural in form, it has been used also as a singular. By Shakespeare it was used indiscriminately as a singular or plural.

Now near the tidings of our comfort is.

Shak.

Tidings to the contrary
Are brought your eyes.

Shak.

Syn. -- News; advice; information; intelligence. -- Tidings , News . The term news denotes recent intelligence from any quarter; the term tidings denotes intelligence expected from a particular quarter, showing what has there betided . We may be indifferent as to news , but are always more or less interested in tidings . We read the news daily; we wait for tidings respecting an absent friend or an impending battle. We may be curious to hear the news ; we are always anxious for tidings .

Evil news rides post, while good news baits.

Milton.

What tidings dost thou bring?

Addison.

Tidley noun (Zoology) (a) The wren. (b) The goldcrest. [ Prov. Eng.]

Tidology noun [ Tide + - logy .] A discourse or treatise upon the tides; that part of science which treats of tides. J. S. Mill.

Tidy noun (Zoology) The wren; -- called also tiddy . [ Prov. Eng.]

The tidy for her notes as delicate as they.

Drayton.

» This name is probably applied also to other small singing birds, as the goldcrest.

Tidy adjective [ Compar. Tidier ; superl. Tidiest .] [ From Tide time, season; confer Dutch tijdig timely, German zeitig , Dan. & Swedish tidig .]
1. Being in proper time; timely; seasonable; favorable; as, tidy weather. [ Obsolete]

If weather be fair and tidy .

Tusser.

2. Arranged in good order; orderly; appropriate; neat; kept in proper and becoming neatness, or habitually keeping things so; as, a tidy lass; their dress is tidy ; the apartments are well furnished and tidy .

A tidy man, that tened [ injured] me never.

Piers Plowman.

Tidy noun ; plural Tidies
1. A cover, often of tatting, drawn work, or other ornamental work, for the back of a chair, the arms of a sofa, or the like.

2. A child's pinafore. [ Prov. Eng.] Wright.

Tidy transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Tidied ; present participle & verbal noun Tidying .] To put in proper order; to make neat; as, to tidy a room; to tidy one's dress.

Tidy intransitive verb To make things tidy. [ Colloq.]

I have tidied and tidied over and over again.

Dickens.

Tidytips noun (Botany) A California composite plant ( Layia platyglossa ), the flower of which has yellow rays tipped with white.

Tie noun ; plural Ties . [ Anglo-Saxon tēge , t...ge , tīge . √64. See Tie , transitive verb ]
1. A knot; a fastening.

2. A bond; an obligation, moral or legal; as, the sacred ties of friendship or of duty; the ties of allegiance.

No distance breaks the tie of blood.

Young.

3. A knot of hair, as at the back of a wig. Young.

4. An equality in numbers, as of votes, scores, etc., which prevents either party from being victorious; equality in any contest, as a race.

5. (Arch. & Engin.) A beam or rod for holding two parts together; in railways, one of the transverse timbers which support the track and keep it in place.

6. (Mus.) A line, usually straight, drawn across the stems of notes, or a curved line written over or under the notes, signifying that they are to be slurred, or closely united in the performance, or that two notes of the same pitch are to be sounded as one; a bind; a ligature.

7. plural Low shoes fastened with lacings.

Bale tie , a fastening for the ends of a hoop for a bale.

Tie transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Tied (Obsolete Tight ); present participle & verbal noun Tying .] [ Middle English ti...en , teyen , Anglo-Saxon tīgan , tiégan , from teág , teáh , a rope; akin to Icelandic taug , and Anglo-Saxon teón to draw, to pull. See Tug , transitive verb , and confer Tow to drag.]
1. To fasten with a band or cord and knot; to bind. " Tie the kine to the cart." 1 Sam. vi. 7.

My son, keep thy father's commandment, and forsake not the law of thy mother: bind them continually upon thine heart, and tie them about thy neck.

Prov. vi. 20,21.

2. To form, as a knot, by interlacing or complicating a cord; also, to interlace, or form a knot in; as, to tie a cord to a tree; to knit; to knot. "We do not tie this knot with an intention to puzzle the argument." Bp. Burnet.

3. To unite firmly; to fasten; to hold.

In bond of virtuous love together tied .

Fairfax.

4. To hold or constrain by authority or moral influence, as by knotted cords; to oblige; to constrain; to restrain; to confine.

Not tied to rules of policy, you find
Revenge less sweet than a forgiving mind.

Dryden.

5. (Mus.) To unite, as notes, by a cross line, or by a curved line, or slur, drawn over or under them.

6. To make an equal score with, in a contest; to be even with.

To ride and tie . See under Ride . -- To tie down . (a) To fasten so as to prevent from rising. (b) To restrain; to confine; to hinder from action. -- To tie up , to confine; to restrain; to hinder from motion or action.

Tie intransitive verb To make a tie; to make an equal score.