different between transfix vs tack

English

Etymology 1

From Middle French transfixer

Pronunciation

Verb

transfix (third-person singular simple present transfixes, present participle transfixing, simple past and past participle transfixed)

1. (transitive) To render motionless, by arousing terror, amazement or awe.
   • 1973, Norman Mailer, Marilyn: A Biography - p. 45.

     But we may as well accept her story as true, for it is likely she would have been transfixed by the narcissism of the weight lifters.

2. (transitive) To pierce with a sharp pointed weapon.
   • 1919, W. Somerset Maugham, The Moon and Sixpence, chapter 52

     There was a little stream that ran not far away, in which he bathed, and down this on occasion would come a shoal of fish. Then the natives would assemble with spears, and with much shouting would transfix the great startled things as they hurried down to the sea.

3. (transitive) To fix or impale.

Related terms

• transfixation
• transfixion
• transfixture

Translations

Etymology 2

Noun

transfix (plural transfixes)

1. (linguistics) A discontinuous affix, which occurs at more than one position in a word, typical of Semitic languages.

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /tæk/
• (Northern England) IPA^(key): /tak/
• Rhymes: -æk

Etymology 1

From Middle English tak, takke (“hook; staple; nail”), from Old Northern French taque (“nail, pin, peg”), probably from a Germanic source, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *takkô (“tip; point; protrusion; prong; tine; jag; spike; twig”), from Proto-Indo-European *dHg?n-, *déHg?- (“to pinch; tear; rip; fray”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Takke (“bough; branch; twig”), West Frisian takke (“branch”), tûk (“branch, smart, sharp”), Dutch tak (“twig; branch; limb”), German Zacke (“jag; prong; spike; tooth; peak”).

Noun

tack (countable and uncountable, plural tacks)

1. A small nail with a flat head.
   • 2012, July 15. Richard Williams in Guardian Unlimited, Tour de France 2012: Carpet tacks cannot force Bradley Wiggins off track

     A tough test for even the strongest climber, it was new to the Tour de France this year, but its debut will be remembered for the wrong reasons after one of those spectators scattered carpet tacks on the road and induced around 30 punctures among the group of riders including Bradley Wiggins, the Tour's overall leader, and his chief rivals.

2. A thumbtack.
3. (sewing) A loose seam used to temporarily fasten pieces of cloth.
4. (nautical) The lower corner on the leading edge of a sail relative to the direction of the wind.
5. (nautical) A course or heading that enables a sailing vessel to head upwind. See also reach, gybe.
6. A direction or course of action, especially a new one.
   • 1612, Michael Drayton, Poly-Olbion song 11 p. 172[1]:

     So stoutly held to tack by those near North-wales men;

   • 1922 , James Joyce, Ulysses, chapter V:^[2]

     Maud Gonne’s letter about taking them off O’Connell street at night: disgrace to our Irish capital. Griffith’s paper is on the same tack now: an army rotten with venereal disease: overseas or halfseasover empire.

   • 1994, Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom, Abacus 2010, p. 637:

     I thought that my refusing Barnard would alienate Botha, and decided that such a tack was too risky.

7. (nautical) The maneuver by which a sailing vessel turns its bow through the wind so that the wind changes from one side to the other.
8. (nautical) The distance a sailing vessel runs between these maneuvers when working to windward; a board.
9. (nautical) A rope used to hold in place the foremost lower corners of the courses when the vessel is close-hauled; also, a rope employed to pull the lower corner of a studding sail to the boom.
10. Any of the various equipment and accessories worn by horses in the course of their use as domesticated animals. Saddles, stirrups, bridles, halters, reins, bits, harnesses, martingales, and breastplates are all forms of horse tack.
11. (manufacturing, construction, chemistry) The stickiness of a compound, related to its cohesive and adhesive properties.

    The laminate adhesive has very aggressive tack and is hard to move once in place.

12. Food generally; fare, especially of the bread kind.

    hardtack; soft tack

    • 1913, D. H. Lawrence, Sons and Lovers

      But if a woman's got nothing but her fair fame to feed on, why, it's thin tack, and a donkey would die of it!

13. That which is attached; a supplement; an appendix.

    • Some tacks had been made to money bills in King Charles's time.
14. (law, Scotland) A contract by which the use of a thing is set, or let, for hire; a lease.

    (Can we find and add a quotation of Burrill to this entry?)

    • 1885: The Crofter in History by Lord Colin Campbell

      In the Breadalbane papers, for example, there is a "tack" which was given by Sir John Campbell of Glenurchy to his "weil belouit" servant John M'Conoquhy V'Gregour, in the year 1530.

15. (obsolete) Confidence; reliance.

    (Can we find and add a quotation of Halliwell to this entry?)

Synonyms

• (nautical maneuver): coming about

Hyponyms

• (nail-like object for affixing thin things): thumbtack

Derived terms

• Blu-Tack
• hardtack
• thumbtack

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English takken (“to attach; nail”), from the noun (see above).

Verb

tack (third-person singular simple present tacks, present participle tacking, simple past and past participle tacked)

1. To nail with a tack (small nail with a flat head).
3. To sew/stich with a tack (loose seam used to temporarily fasten pieces of cloth).
4. (nautical) To maneuver a sailing vessel so that its bow turns through the wind, i.e. the wind changes from one side of the vessel to the other.
5. To add something as an extra item.

   to tack (something) onto (something)

6. Often paired with "up", to place the tack on a horse.

Synonyms

• (nautical: to turn the bow through the wind): to change tack

Antonyms

• (nautical: to turn the stern through the wind): to wear

Translations

Related terms

• tacky

See also

• Tack (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Blu-Tack

Etymology 3

From an old or dialectal form of French tache. See techy.

Noun

tack (plural tacks)

1. A stain; a tache.
2. (obsolete) A peculiar flavour or taint.

   a musty tack

Etymology 4

Noun

tack (uncountable)

1. (colloquial) That which is tacky; something cheap and gaudy.

References

• tack in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• tack at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• ATCK, Tkac

Scots

Noun

tack (plural tacks)

1. Lease, tenancy
2. The period of such a contract
3. A leasehold; especially, the tenure of a land or a farm.

Swedish

Etymology

From Old Norse þ?kk, from Proto-Germanic *þank?, *þankaz. Cognates include English thank, German Dank, Danish tak and Icelandic and Norwegian takk.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tak/

Interjection

tack

1. thanks, please

Noun

tack n

1. a thank; a word which shows gratitude

Declension