Meanings
adjectiveon the tack (not comparable)
- not comparablenauticalTacking.
- not comparableslangWithout alcohol; teetotal.
For they were always going on the tack; a dozen pairs of sympathetic eyes would follow the consciously heroic youth as he wandered down the veranda with a glass of orange juice in his hand; and they asked anxiously, ‘How goes it, Frankie?’
1952, Doris Lessing, Martha Quest, Panther, published 1974, page 152
Cite this entry
APA
on the tack. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/on%20the%20tack
MLA
“on the tack.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/on%20the%20tack. Accessed November 5, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “on the tack,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/on%20the%20tack.
Source: on the tack on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.