tick

n 1: a metallic tapping sound; "he counted the ticks of the

clock" [syn: {ticking}]

2: any of two families of small parasitic arachnids with barbed

proboscis; feed on blood of warm-blooded animals

3: a light mattress

v 1: make a clicking or ticking sound; "The clock ticked away"

[syn: {click}]

2: make a sound like a clock or a timer; "the clocks were

ticking"; "the grandfather clock beat midnight" [syn: {ticktock},

{ticktack}, {beat}]

3: sew, as of mattresses; "tick a mattress" [syn: {retick}]

tick

1. A {jiffy} (sense 1). 2. In simulations, the discrete unit

of time that passes between iterations of the simulation

mechanism. In AI applications, this amount of time is often

left unspecified, since the only constraint of interest is the

ordering of events. This sort of AI simulation is often

pejoratively referred to as "tick-tick-tick" simulation,

especially when the issue of simultaneity of events with long,

independent chains of causes is {handwave}d. 3. In the FORTH

language, a single quote character.

[{Jargon File}]