ticking

Plural: tickings

Noun

• A durable, tightly woven fabric, often striped, used for mattresses.
• a metallic tapping sound
• a strong fabric used for mattress and pillow covers
• A strong cotton or linen fabric used to cover pillows and mattresses.
• A sound of something ticking. (For example, the second hand on a clock face.)
• An illusional style of dance where one moves his or her body to the "tic" of the music creating a strobe or animated effect.
• A marking that occurs on some horses, involving white flecks of hair at the flank, and white hairs at the base of the tail, called a skunk tail or rabicano, sometimes referred to as birdcatcher ticks.

Verb

• make a clicking or ticking sound
• make a sound like a clock or a timer
  • "the clocks were ticking"
• sew
• put a check mark on or near or next to
• present participle and gerund of tick

Examples

• a ticking time bomb
• The old Scrabble board bag was made of sturdy TICKING, still intact after years.

Synonyms

beat, check, check off, click, mark, mark off, retick, tick, tick off, ticktack, ticktock

Related Words

Ticking in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911), tick-tock