make tick

Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word make tick. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word make tick, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say make tick in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word make tick you have here. The definition of the word make tick will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition ofmake tick, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.

English

Etymology

An allusion to the workings of a clock making it operate with a ticking noise

Verb

make tick (third-person singular simple present makes tick, present participle making tick, simple past and past participle made tick)

  1. (colloquial) To cause someone or something to operate the way it does.
    • 2005, Cherie Priest, Four and Twenty Blackbirds, →ISBN, page 91:
      I honestly don't know the specifics that make him tick, and I wish I did.
    • 2012, Kevin Seamus Hasson, The Right to Be Wrong: Ending the Culture War Over Religion in America, →ISBN:
      Most of us find ourselves caught in the middle, ducking for cover and wondering just who these people are and what could possibly make them tick.
    • 2013, Betty Lussier, Intrepid Woman: Betty Lussier's Secret War, 1942-1945, →ISBN:
      I wanted to roam the world, exploring what made it tick, helping to make it tick better, and never get married.
  2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see make,‎ tick.