tuck

verb
/tʌk/

Etymology

From Middle English tuken, touken (“to torment, to stretch (cloth)”), from Old English tūcian (“to torment, vex”) and Middle Dutch tucken (“to tuck”), both from Proto-Germanic *teuh-, *teug- (“to draw, pull”) (compare also *tukkōną), from Proto-Indo-European *dewk- (“to pull”). Akin to Old High German zucchen (“to snatch, tug”), zuchôn (“to jerk”), German Low German tuken (“to tug, pluck, grab and pull towards”), Old English tēon (“to draw, pull, train”). Doublet of touch.

  1. derived from *dewk- — “to pull
  2. derived from *teuh-
  3. derived from tucken — “to tuck
  4. inherited from tūcian — “to torment, vex
  5. inherited from tuken

Definitions

  1. To pull or gather up (an item of fabric).

  2. To push into a snug position

    To push into a snug position; to place somewhere safe, or handy, or somewhat hidden.

    • Tuck in your shirt.  I tucked in the sheet.  He tucked the $10 bill into his shirt pocket.
    • She tucked her hair behind her ear.
  3. To eat

    To eat; to consume.

  4. + 20 more definitions
    1. To fit neatly.

      • The sofa tucks nicely into that corner.
      • Kenwood House is tucked into a corner of Hampstead Heath.
    2. To curl into a ball

      To curl into a ball; to fold up and hold one's legs.

      • The diver tucked, flipped, and opened up at the last moment.
    3. To sew folds

      To sew folds; to make a tuck or tucks in.

      • to tuck a dress
    4. To full, as cloth.

    5. Of a drag queen, trans woman, etc., to conceal one's penis and testicles, as with a gaff…

      Of a drag queen, trans woman, etc., to conceal one's penis and testicles, as with a gaff or by fastening them down with adhesive tape.

      • Honey, have you tucked today? We don't wanna see anything nasty down there.
    6. To keep the thumb in position while moving the rest of the hand over it to continue…

      To keep the thumb in position while moving the rest of the hand over it to continue playing piano keys that are outside the thumb (when playing scales).

    7. Ellipsis of Mach tuck.

      • Never take a first-generation Learjet past Mach 0.82; it'll tuck hard nose-down and you won't be able to pull out from the dive.
    8. An act of tucking

      An act of tucking; a pleat or fold.

    9. A fold in fabric that has been stitched in place from end to end, as to reduce the…

      A fold in fabric that has been stitched in place from end to end, as to reduce the overall dimension of the fabric piece.

    10. A curled position.

    11. A plastic surgery technique to remove excess skin.

      • tummy tuck
    12. The act of keeping the thumb in position while moving the rest of the hand over it to…

      The act of keeping the thumb in position while moving the rest of the hand over it to continue playing keys that are outside the thumb.

    13. A curled position, with the shins held towards the body.

    14. The afterpart of a ship, immediately under the stern or counter, where the ends of the…

      The afterpart of a ship, immediately under the stern or counter, where the ends of the bottom planks are collected and terminate by the tuck-rail.

    15. Food, especially snack food.

      • 'What on earth do Coker and his parcel of tuck matter to us? You're not thinking of snooping his tuck, I suppose, like Bunter.'
    16. A rapier, a sword.

      • […] with force he labour'd / To free's blade from retentive scabbard; / And after many a painful pluck, / From rusty durance he bail'd tuck […]
      • [...] dismount thy tuck, be yare in thy preparation, for thy assailant is quick, skilful, and deadly. [...]
      • He wore large hose,[…] and a tuck, as it was then called, or rapier, of tremendous length.
    17. The beat of a drum.

    18. A surname.

    19. A diminutive of the male given name Tucker.

    20. An unincorporated community in Daviess County, Kentucky, United States.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for tuck. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA