Dictionary: TACK'LE – TAG



TACK'LE, n. [D. takel, a pulley and tackle; takelen, to rig; G. takel, takeln; Sw. tackel, tackla; Dan. takkel, takler; W. taclu, to put in order, to dress, deck, set right; taclau, tackling; accouterments; tacyl, a tool. This seems to belong to the family of tack, Gr. τασσω. The primary sense is to put on, or to set or to put in order.]

  1. A machine for raising or lowering heavy weights, consisting of a rope and blocks called a pulley. Mar. Dict.
  2. Instruments of action; weapons. She to her tackle fell. Hudibras.
  3. An arrow. Chaucer.
  4. The rigging and apparatus of a ship. Tackle-fall, the rope, or rather the end of the rope of a pulley, which falls and by which it is pulled. Ground-tackle, anchors, cables, &c. Gun-tackle, the instruments for hauling cannon in or out. Tack-tackle, a small tackle to pull down the tacks of the principal sails. Mar. Dict.

TACK'LE, v.t.

  1. To harness; as, to tackle a horse into a gig, sleigh, coach or wagon. [A legitimate and common use of the word in America.]
  2. To seize; to lay hold of; as, a wrestler tackles his antagonist; a dog tackles the game. This is a common popular use of the word in New England, though not elegant. But it retains the primitive idea, to put on, to fall or throw on. [See Attack.]
  3. To supply with tackle. Beaum.


  1. Harnessed; seized.
  2. Made of ropes tacked together. My man shall / Bring thee cords, made like a tackled stair. Shak.


  1. Furniture of the masts and yards of a ship, as cordage, sails, &c.
  2. Instruments of action; as, fishing tackling. Walton.
  3. Harness; the instruments of drawing a carriage.


Harnessing; putting on harness; seizing; falling on.


One who holds a tack or lease of land from another; a tenant or lessee. [Local.]

TACT, n. [L. tactus, from tango, (for tago,) to touch; Fr. tact; It. tatto; Sp. tacto.]

  1. Touch; feeling; formerly, the stroke in beating time in music. [Dan. tagt.]
  2. Peculiar skill or faculty; nice perception or discernment. Am. Review.

TAC'TIC, or TAC'TIC-AL, a. [See Tactics.]

Pertaining to the art of military and naval dispositions for battle, evolutions, &c.

TAC-TI'CIAN, n. [See Tactics.]

One versed in tactics.

TAC'TICS, n. [Gr. τακτικος, from τασσω, ταττω, to set, to appoint; ταξις, order; Fr. tactique. See Tack.]

  1. The science and art of disposing military and naval forces in order for battle and performing military and naval evolutions. In the most extensive sense, tactics, la grande tactique of the French, comprehends every thing that relates to the order, formation and disposition of armies, their encampments, &c.
  2. The art of inventing and making machines for throwing darts, arrows, stones and other missile weapons. Cyc.

TAC'TILE, or TAC'TIL, a. [Fr. tactile, from L. tactilis, from tango, to touch.]

Tangible; susceptible of touch; that may be felt; as, tactile sweets; tactile qualities. Hale.


Tangibleness; perceptibility of touch.

TAC'TION, n. [Fr. from L. tactio, tango, to touch.]

The act of touching; touch.


Destitute of tact. Ec. Rev.


Pertaining to touch; consisting in or derived from touch. Chalmers.

TA-DOR'NA, n. [Sp. tadorno.]

A name of the shel-drake, vulpanser, or borough-duck. Cyc.

TAD'POLE, n. [Sax. tade, toad, with pola, coinciding with L. pullus, young.]

A frog in its first state from the spawn; a porwiggle.

TA'EN, pp. [tane.]

The poetical contraction of taken.


A lamellar mineral of a yellowish gray or rose white, forming masses of prisms interlaced in the gang, chiefly lime and silex. Cyc.

TAF'FER-EL, n. [D. tafereel, from tafel, table.]

The upper part of a ship's stern, which is flat like a table on the top, and sometimes ornamented with carved work. Mar. Dict. Cyc.

TAF'FE-TA, n. [Fr. tafetas, taffetas; Sp. tafetan; It. taffetta; D. taf; G. taffet.]

A fine smooth stuff of silk, having usually a remarkable gloss. Taffetas are of all colors. Cyc.

TAF'I-A, n.

Rum, so called by the French.

TAG, n.1 [Sw. tagg, a point or prickle; Ice. tag; Dan. tagger, takker. The primary sense is probably a shoot, coinciding with the first syllable of L. digitus, (see Toe;) or the sense is from putting on, as in tackle. In Goth. taga is hair, the hair of the head, that which is shot out, or that which is thick. The latter sense would show its alliance to the W. tagu, to choke.]

  1. A metallic point put to the end of a string.
  2. Something mean and paltry; as, tag-rag people. [Vulgar.] Shak.
  3. A young sheep. [Local.]

TAG, n.2

A play in which the person gains who tags, that is, touches another. This was a common sport among boys in Connecticut formerly, and it may be still. The word is inserted here for the sake of the evidence it affords of the affinity of languages, and of the original orthography of the Latin tango, to touch, which was tago. This vulgar tag is the same word; the primitive word retained by the common people. It is used also as a verb, to tag. [See Touch.]

TAG, v.t.

  1. To fit with a point; as, to tag lace.
  2. To fit one thing to another; to append to. His courteous host / Tags every sentence with some fawning word. Dryden.
  3. To join or fasten. Swift.