tack

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tack /t'æk/ (tacks tacking tacked)
1 [N-COUNT]
A tack is a short nail with a broad, flat head, especially one that is used for fastening carpets to the floor.
to get down to brass tacks: see brass
see also thumbtack
2 [VERB] V n to n, V n with adv
If you tack something to a surface, you pin it there with tacks or drawing pins.
He had tacked this note to her door...
She had recently taken a canvas from the theater and tacked it up on the wall.
3 [N-SING] also no det
If you change tack or try a different tack, you try a different method for dealing with a situation.
In desperation I changed tack...
This report takes a different tack from the 20 that have come before.
= approach
4 [VERB] V, V n, also V n prep/adv
If a sailing boat is tacking or if the people in it tack it, it is sailing towards a particular point in a series of sideways movements rather than in a straight line.
We were tacking fairly close inshore...
The helmsman could tack the boat singlehanded.
5 [VERB] V pl-n with together, V n prep/adv
If you tack pieces of material together, you sew them together with big, loose stitches in order to hold them firmly or check that they fit, before sewing them properly.
Tack them together with a 1.5 cm seam...
Tack the cord around the cushion.tack on
[PHRASAL VERB] be V-ed P to n, also V n P
If you say that something is tacked on to something else, you think that it is added in a hurry and in an unsatisfactory way.
The child-care bill is to be tacked on to the budget plan now being worked out in the Senate.

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