tack

tack is a 4-letter English word with 26 senses as noun, transitive verb, intransitive verb, and verb in the JumbleFix dictionary. One common meaning is: A stain; a tache. Face value is 10 in Scrabble and 11 in Words With Friends. Use the entries below when you need a playable sense, a nearby word, or another arrangement of the same letters.

4 letters · Scrabble 10 · Words With Friends 11 · 26 senses

Definitions

1. noun. A stain; a tache.
2. noun. A peculiar flavor or taint; as, a musty tack.
3. noun. A small, short, sharp-pointed nail, usually having a broad, flat head.
4. noun. That which is attached; a supplement; an appendix. See Tack, v. t., 3.
5. transitive verb. 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.
6. transitive verb. 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).
7. transitive verb. 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.
8. transitive verb. A contract by which the use of a thing is set, or let, for hire; a lease.
9. transitive verb. Confidence; reliance.
10. transitive verb. To fasten or attach.
11. transitive verb. 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.
12. transitive verb. In parliamentary usage, to add (a supplement) to a bill; to append; -- often with on or to.
13. transitive verb. 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.
14. intransitive verb. 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.
15. noun. sailing a zigzag course
16. noun. (nautical) the act of changing tack

    Synonyms: tacking

17. noun. (nautical) a line (rope or chain) that regulates the angle at which a sail is set in relation to the wind

    Synonyms: mainsheet, sheet, shroud

18. noun. gear for a horse

    Synonyms: saddlery

19. noun. a short nail with a sharp point and a large head
20. noun. the heading or position of a vessel relative to the trim of its sails
21. verb. reverse (a direction, attitude, or course of action)

    Synonyms: alternate, flip, interchange, switch

22. verb. fix to; attach

    "append a charm to the necklace"

    Synonyms: append

23. verb. sew together loosely, with large stitches

    "baste a hem"

    Synonyms: baste

24. verb. fasten with tacks

    "tack the notice on the board"

25. verb. create by putting components or members together

    "She pieced a quilt"

    "He tacked together some verses"

    Synonyms: assemble, piece

26. verb. turn into the wind

    "The sailors decided to tack the boat"

    "The boat tacked"

Synonyms

tacking, mainsheet, sheet, shroud, saddlery, alternate, flip, interchange, switch, append, baste, assemble, piece

Common word forms

tacks, tacked, tacker, tacking, tackless

Words from these letters

If you are holding these tiles, the unscrambler for TACK lists every valid word you can make from the same letters, including shorter plays.