Etymology From Middle English tak, takke (“hook; staple; nail”), from Old Northern French taque (“nail, pin, peg”), from Frankish *takkō (“twig, branch, shoot”), of unknown origin, but possibly from Proto-Indo-European *dHgʰ-n-, from the root *déHgʰ- (“to pinch; to 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”).
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.2012 July 15, Richard Williams, “Tour de France 2012: Carpet tacks cannot put Bradley Wiggins off track”, in The Guardian:
Nautical, Transport The lower corner on the leading edge of a sail relative to the direction of the wind.
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Nautical, Transport A course or heading that enables a sailing vessel to head upwind.
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Figuratively A direction or course of action, especially a new one; a method or approach to solving a problem.
So stoutly held to tack by those near North-wales men;1612, Michael Drayton, chapter 11, in [John Selden], editor, Poly-Olbion. Or A Chorographicall Description of Tracts, Riuers, Mountaines, Forests, and Other Parts of this Renowned Isle of Great Britaine, […], London: […] [Humphrey Lownes] for M[athew] Lownes; I[ohn] Browne; I[ohn] Helme; I[ohn] Busbie, →OCLC:
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.1922 February, James Joyce, “[V]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC:
2 more examples
I thought that my refusing Barnard would alienate Botha, and decided that such a tack was too risky.1994, Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela, London: Abacus, published 2010, page 637:
When even cautious German politicians are questioning Nato’s ‘war-mongering’ actions, it’s clear that a new tack is required2016 June 19, Mary Dejevsky, “Isolating Russia isn’t working. The west needs a new approach”, in The Guardian:
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Nautical, Transport The maneuver by which a sailing vessel turns its bow through the wind so that the wind changes from one side to the other.
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Nautical, Transport The distance a sailing vessel runs between these maneuvers when working to windward; a board.
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Nautical, Transport 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.
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Any of the various equipment and accessories worn by horses in the course of their use as domesticated animals.
The laminate adhesive has very aggressive tack and is hard to move once in place.
Letterpress and offset gloss varnishes normally have viscosities varying from 50 to 250 poises; they must stain the paper as little as possible, have insufficient tack to cause plucking, […]1959, E. A. Apps, Printing Ink Technology, page 415:
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Food generally; fare, especially of the hard bread or breadlike kind.
Near-synonyms: biscuit, bread
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!1913, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, Sons and Lovers, London: Duckworth & Co. […], →OCLC:
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That which is attached; a supplement; an appendix.
Some tacks had been made to money bills in King Charles's time.a. 1716 (date written), [Gilbert] Burnet, edited by [Gilbert Burnet Jr.], Bishop Burnet’s History of His Own Time. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: […] Thomas Ward […], published 1724, →OCLC:
pay all taxes and subscribe tacks1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC:
He should find[…]that there was tack in it, that it was solid silver, or silver that had strength in it.1651-1666, Joseph Caryl, Exposition of Job with Practical Observations:
To nail (something) with a tack (small nail with a flat head).
The hallway smelt of boiled cabbage and old rag mats. At one end of it a colored poster, too large for indoor display, had been tacked to the wall.1949 June 8, George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four, London: Secker & Warburg, →OCLC, Part I, Chapter I:
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To sew/stitch with a tack (loose seam used to temporarily fasten pieces of cloth).
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To weld with initial small welds to temporarily fasten in preparation for full welding.
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Nautical, Transport 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.
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Nautical, Transport To sail to windward using a series of alternate tacks across the wind.
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To add something as an extra item.
to tack (something) onto (something)
In short, they tend to present Indian English as nothing more than "standard" English with a select collection of lexical peculiarities tacked on, as it were, many of which would be regarded as "errors" by prescriptivist language scholars.2012, James Lambert, “Beyond Hobson-Jobson: A new lexicography for Indian English”, in World Englishes, page 312:
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Synonym of tack up (“to prepare a horse for riding by equipping it with a tack”).
Colloquial That which is tacky; something cheap and gaudy.
For souvenirs – mostly outright tack and ethnicky textiles – try your bargaining skills at the shops and stalls on Binjiang Luand Zhengyang Jie, or the nightly street market spreading for about a block either side of Shanhu Bridge along Zhongshan Lu.2014, David Leffman, The Rough Guide to China:
tack
noun
Etymology From Middle English tak, take (“fee, tax (on livestock)”), from Old Norse tak, taka (“a taking, seizure; revenue”), from Old Norse taka (“to take”). Cognate with Scots tack.
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 1530.1885, Lord Colin Campbell, The Crofter in History: