ticking

/ˈtɪkɪŋ/

ticking noun: a strong cotton or linen fabric used to cover pillows and mattresses. Also the present participle and gerund of tick.

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Noun (1)

ticking (countable and uncountable, plural tickings)

A strong cotton or linen fabric used to cover pillows and mattresses.
- Harvey saw with disgust that there were no sheets on his bed-place. He was lying on a piece of dingy ticking full of lumps and nubbles.1897, Rudyard Kipling, “chapter 1”, in Captains Courageous

Noun (2)

ticking (countable and uncountable, plural tickings)

A sound of something that ticks. (For example, the second hand on a clock face.)
- Were they indeed the tickings of a hundred clocks — the fine low inward breathings of Time's children!1842, Laman Blanchard, “The Frolics of Time”, in George Cruikshank's Omnibus
- The combination of “monotony” and “variety,” which keeps the writer in a trance-like state between sleep and wake, is then characterized by the figure of a ticking watch: “If certain sensitive persons listen persistently to the ticking of a watch [...] they fall into the hypnotic trance; and rhythm...2018 May, Angela Leighton, Hearing Things: The Work of Sound in Literature, Harvard University Press, page 237
An illusional style of dance where one moves his or her body to the "tic" of the music creating a strobe or animated effect.

Noun (3)

ticking (plural tickings)

A marking that occurs on some horses, involving white flecks of hair at the flank, and white hairs at the base of the tail, called a skunk tail or rabicano, sometimes referred to as birdcatcher ticks.

Also used as

ticking is also the present participle and gerund of tick.

ticking meaning in Marathi, Urdu, Bengali and Telugu

ticking in Marathi

टिक करत आहे

ticking in Urdu

ٹکنگ, ٹک کرنا

ticking in Bengali

টিকিং, টিকিং করা, টিকিং করা হচ্ছে

ticking in Telugu

టిక్కింగ్, టికింగ్, టిక్కింగ్ చెయ్యడం

More languagesFewer languages

ticking in Malayalam: ടിക്കിംഗ്, ടിക്ക് ചെയ്യുന്നു
ticking in Kannada: ಟಿಕ್ಕಿಂಗ್, ಟಿಕಿಂಗ್
ticking in Punjabi: ਟਿੱਕਿੰਗ, ਟਿਕਿੰਗ, ਟਿੱਕ ਕਰਨਾ
ticking in Gujarati: ટિકીંગ, ટીકિંગ
ticking in Odia: ଟିକିଂ, ଟିକିଂ କରୁଛି, ଟିକ୍କିଙ୍ଗ
ticking in Nepali: टिकिंङ, टिक गर्दै

Examples of ticking in a sentence

While the boss was on holiday, the deputy made sure things were ticking over in the firm.
The bad election results kept coming in, ticking past me one by one on the bottom of the television screen.
My shockproof watch stood up to everything it reasonably could be expected to and kept ticking; but dropping it down an elevator shaft is asking too much.

All 35 example sentences with ticking

Forms of ticking

plural	tickings

Origin of ticking

From tick (“sheet, cover”) + -ing (“material, collection”).

From tick (“tick mark”) + -ing (“having the property”).

Words formed from ticking

Phrases with ticking

7 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with ticking

Questions about ticking

What does ticking mean?: Ticking means a strong cotton or linen fabric used to cover pillows and mattresses.
What is ticking in Marathi?: Ticking in Marathi is टिक करत आहे. See Ticking meaning in Marathi.
What part of speech is ticking?: Ticking is a noun.
How do you pronounce ticking?: Ticking is pronounced /ˈtɪkɪŋ/.
What is the plural of ticking?: The plural of ticking is tickings.

Words near ticking in the dictionary

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-AnotherFriendlyHuman-ticking.wav.

Cite this entry: “ticking.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/ticking. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.