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say it: tak
tack is a noun and verb meaning "the heading or position of a vessel relative to the trim of its sails". It is pronounced /ˈtæk/ — tak. It carries 12 recorded senses.
the heading or position of a vessel relative to the trim of its sails
a short nail with a sharp point and a large head
gear for a horse
(nautical) a line (rope or chain) that regulates the angle at which a sail is set in relation to the wind
seafaring
sailing a zigzag course
turn into the wind
“The sailors decided to tack the boat”
“The boat tacked”
boat · navigation
create by putting components or members together
“She pieced a quilt”
“He tacked together some verses”
“They set up a committee”
reverse (a direction, attitude, or course of action)
Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.
Definitions, synonyms and semantic relations for tack come from Princeton University’s WordNet. The pronunciation comes from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. Commonness is measured against a corpus of everyday English. Full sources and licences.