▪ I. tick-tock, n.
(ˈtɪkˌtɒk)
Also tic-toc.
[Echoic.]
An imitation of the ticking of a clock, esp. the slow ticking of a large clock; also of the sound of a double knock, or of resounding footsteps.
| 1848 Thackeray Van. Fair xxiii, They were both so silent that the tick-tock of the..clock on the mantelpiece became quite rudely audible. 1878 Browning Poets Croisic cxxvii, Bold tic-toc Announces there's a giant at the door. 1906 R. Whiteing Ring in New 197 The tic-toc of the high heels was insistent in the passages. |
Add: 2. A clock or watch. colloq. (chiefly Children's). Cf. tick-tick n.
| 1947 Mod. Lang. Rev. XLVII. 357 [Germanic nursery words] Clock. Eng. tick-tock. 1959 I. & P. Opie Lore & Lang. Schoolch. iii. 44 What's the time by your old tick-tock what doesn't go? 1985 Toronto Sun 10 Oct. 151/3 (caption) What does your ticktock say? 1986 Oban Times 22 May 3 (Advt.), Antiques wanted..Tickless ticktocks. |
▪ II. tick-tock, v.
(ˈtɪkˈtɒk)
[f. the n.]
intr. Of a clock, etc.: to make a rhythmic alternating ticking sound. Hence tick-tocking vbl. n.
| 1921 H. S. Walpole Young Enchanted iii. iii. 274 The gaudy clock..now tick-tocked along in amiable approval of them both. a 1947 F. Thompson Country Calendar (1979) 201 The loud tick-tocking of the clock in the hall. 1950 G. Barker Dead Seagull ii. 89, I heard the murmur in the distance and then the rumbled tick-tocking and then the appalling cacophony all around as the approaching train swept up and past us. 1962 L. Deighton Ipcress File ix. 55 The clock tick-tocked on, adding a second or so to its seventy years of tick. |