tuck

present singular third person tucks · participle present tucking · participle past tucked · past tucked

1. transitiveTo pull or gather up (an item of fabric).First known use 14ᵗʰc.
2. transitiveTo push into a snug position; to place somewhere safe, or handy, or somewhat hidden.First known use 1580s.

   She tucked her hair behind her ear.

   2 more examples

   Tuck in your shirt.  I tucked in the sheet.  He tucked the $10 bill into his shirt pocket.

   It was flood-tide along Fifth Avenue; motor, brougham, and victoria swept by on the glittering current; pretty women glanced out from limousine and tonneau; young men of his own type, silk-hatted, frock-coated, the crooks of their walking sticks tucked up under their left arms, passed on the Park side.

   1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, “His Own People”, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC, page 6

3. intransitiveoftenTo eat; to consume.First known use 1780s.
4. ergativeTo fit neatly.

   The sofa tucks nicely into that corner.

   1 more example

   Kenwood House is tucked into a corner of Hampstead Heath.

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

   The diver tucked, flipped, and opened up at the last moment.

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

   to tuck a dress

7. To full, as cloth.
8. ambitransitiveOf 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.

9. entertainmentTo 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).
10. abbreviationellipsisaeronauticsEllipsis 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.

plural tucks

1. countableuncountableAn act of tucking; a pleat or fold.First known use late 14thC.
2. countableuncountablebusinessA fold in fabric that has been stitched in place from end to end, as to reduce the overall dimension of the fabric piece.
3. countableuncountableA curled position.
4. countableuncountablemedicineA plastic surgery technique to remove excess skin.

   tummy tuck

5. countableuncountablepiano; when playing scales on piano keys; piano; when playing scales on piano keysentertainmentThe 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.
6. countableuncountabledivingA curled position, with the shins held towards the body.
7. countableuncountablenauticalThe 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.
8. IndiaUKdateduncountableschool slangFood, 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.'

   1956, Charles Hamilton, The Banishing of Billy Bunter

plural tucks

1. archaicA rapier, a sword.

   He wore large hose,[…] and a tuck, as it was then called, or rapier, of tremendous length.

   1826, [Walter Scott], Woodstock; Or, The Cavalier. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green, →OCLC

   2 more examples

   […] 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 […]

   1662 (indicated as 1663), [Samuel Butler], “[The First Part of Hudibras]. Canto II.”, in Hudibras. The First and Second Parts. […], London: […] John Martyn and Henry Herringman, […], published 1678, →OCLC; republished in A[lfred] R[ayney] Waller, editor, Hudibras: Written in the Time of the Late Wars, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: University Press, 1905, →OCLC

   [...] dismount thy tuck, be yare in thy preparation, for thy assailant is quick, skilful, and deadly. [...]

   c. 1601–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Twelfe Night, or What You Will”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]

plural tucks

1. The beat of a drum.

plural Tucks

1. countableuncountableA surname.
2. countableuncountableA diminutive of the male given name Tucker.
3. countableuncountableAn unincorporated community in Daviess County, Kentucky, United States.