tuck
/tʌk/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.55 in modern English
10
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To push into a snug position; to place somewhere safe, or handy, or somewhat hidden.
Transitive verb
verb
Of 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.
Example Sentences
- "Tuck in your shirt. I tucked in the sheet. He tucked the $10 bill into his shirt pocket."
- "She tucked her hair behind her ear."
- "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."
- "The sofa tucks nicely into that corner."
- "Kenwood House is tucked into a corner of Hampstead Heath."
- "The diver tucked, flipped, and opened up at the last moment."
Etymology
From Middle English tuken, touken (“to torment, to stretch (cloth)”), from Old English tūcian (“to torment, vex”) and Middle Dutch tucken (“to tuck”), both from Proto-Germanic *teuh-, *teug- (“to draw, pull”) (compare also *tukkōną), from Proto-Indo-European *dewk- (“to pull”). Akin to Old High German zucchen (“to snatch, tug”), zuchôn (“to jerk”), German Low German tuken (“to tug, pluck, grab and pull towards”), Old English tēon (“to draw, pull, train”). Doublet of touch.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: *dewk-, tuken, tūcian, tucken, *teuh-