[tak], (Noun)

Definitions:
- a small, sharp broad-headed nail
(e.g: tacks held the remaining rags of carpet to the floor)

- a long stitch used to fasten fabrics together temporarily, prior to permanent sewing

- a method of dealing with a situation or problem; a course of action or policy
(e.g: as she could not stop him going she tried another tack and insisted on going with him)

- an act of changing course by turning a boat's head into and through the wind, so as to bring the wind on the opposite side

- a rope for securing the corner of certain sails

- the quality of being sticky
(e.g: cooking the sugar to caramel gives tack to the texture)


Phrases:
- on the port tack
- on the starboard tack

Origin:
Middle English (in the general sense ‘something that fastens one thing to another’): probably related to Old French tache ‘clasp, large nail’

[tak], (Verb)

Definitions:
- fasten or fix in place with tacks
(e.g: he used the tool to tack down sheets of fibreboard)

- change course by turning a boat's head into and through the wind
(e.g: their boat was now downwind and they had to tack)


Phrases:
- on the port tack
- on the starboard tack

Origin:
Middle English (in the general sense ‘something that fastens one thing to another’): probably related to Old French tache ‘clasp, large nail’

[tak], (Noun)

Definitions:
- equipment used in horse riding, including the saddle and bridle


Phrases:

Origin:
late 18th century (originally dialect in the general sense ‘apparatus, equipment’): contraction of tackle. The current sense dates from the 1920s

[tak], (Noun)

Definitions:
- cheap, shoddy, or tasteless material
(e.g: this pop will never trivialize itself and be described as cheap tack)


Phrases:

Origin:
1980s: back-formation from tacky