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Tack vs Staple - What's the difference?

tack | staple |

As adjectives the difference between tack and staple

is that tack is pretty, beautiful while staple is relating to, or being market of staple for, commodities.

As verbs the difference between tack and staple

is that tack is while staple is to sort according to its staple or staple can be to secure with a staple.

As a noun staple is

a town containing merchants who have exclusive right, under royal authority, to purchase or produce certain goods for export; also, the body of such merchants seen as a group or staple can be a wire fastener used to secure stacks of paper by penetrating all the sheets and curling around.

tack

English

Etymology 1

From , probably from a (etyl) source.

Noun

(en noun)
  • A small nail with a flat head.
  • * 2012 , July 15. Richard Williams in Guardian Unlimited, Tour de France 2012: Carpet tacks cannot force Bradley Wiggins off track
  • A tough test for even the strongest climber, it was new to the Tour de France this year, but its debut will be remembered for the wrong reasons after one of those spectators scattered carpet tacks on the road and induced around 30 punctures among the group of riders including Bradley Wiggins, the Tour's overall leader, and his chief rivals.
  • A thumbtack.
  • (sewing) A loose seam used to temporarily fasten pieces of cloth.
  • (nautical) The lower corner on the leading edge of a sail relative to the direction of the wind.
  • (nautical) A course or heading that enables a sailing vessel to head upwind. See also reach, gybe.
  • A direction or course of action, especially a new one.
  • * 1994 , Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom , Abacus 2010, p. 637:
  • I thought that my refusing Barnard would alienate Botha, and decided that such a tack was too risky.
  • (nautical) The maneuver by which a sailing vessel turns its bow through the wind so that the wind changes from one side to the other.
  • (nautical) The distance a sailing vessel runs between these maneuvers when working to windward; a board.
  • (nautical) A rope used to hold in place the foremost lower corners of the courses when the vessel is close-hauled; also, a rope employed to pull the lower corner of a studding sail to the boom.
  • Any of the various equipment and accessories worn by horses in the course of their use as domesticated animals. Saddles, stirrups, bridles, halters, reins, bits, harnesses, martingales, and breastplates are all forms of horse tack .
  • (manufacturing, construction, chemistry) The stickiness of a compound, related to its cohesive and adhesive properties.
  • The laminate adhesive has very aggressive tack and is hard to move once in place.
  • Hardtack.
  • * 1913 , D. H. Lawrence, "Sons and Lovers":
  • "But if a woman's got nothing but her fair fame to feed on, why, it's thin tack , and a donkey would die of it!"
  • That which is attached; a supplement; an appendix.
  • * Bishop Burnet
  • Some tacks had been made to money bills in King Charles's time.
    (Macaulay)
  • (legal, Scotland) A contract by which the use of a thing is set, or let, for hire; a lease.
  • (Burrill)
  • (obsolete) Confidence; reliance.
  • (Halliwell)
    Synonyms
    * (nautical maneuver) coming about
    Hyponyms
    * (nail-like object for affixing thin things) thumbtack
    Derived terms
    * Blu-Tack * hardtack * thumbtack

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To nail with a tack (small nail with a flat head).
  • To sew/stich with a tack (loose seam used to temporarily fasten pieces of cloth).
  • (nautical) To maneuver a sailing vessel so that its bow turns through the wind, i.e. the wind changes from one side of the vessel to the other.
  • To add something as an extra item.
  • to tack (something) onto (something)
  • Often paired with "up", to place the tack on a horse.
  • Synonyms
    * to change tack
    Antonyms
    * to wear

    See also

    * * Blu-Tack

    Etymology 2

    From an old or dialectal form of (etyl) tache. See techy.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A stain; a tache.
  • (obsolete) A peculiar flavour or taint.
  • (Drayton)
    ----

    staple

    English

    Etymology 1

    (The Staple) From (etyl) estaple, (etyl) . Compare staff.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A town containing merchants who have exclusive right, under royal authority, to purchase or produce certain goods for export; also, the body of such merchants seen as a group.
  • * Arbuthnot
  • The customs of Alexandria were very great, it having been the staple of the Indian trade.
  • * Sir Walter Scott
  • For the increase of trade and the encouragement of the worthy burgesses of Woodstock, her majesty was minded to erect the town into a staple for wool.
  • * 2011 , Thomas Penn, Winter King , Penguin 2012, p. 73:
  • Calais was one of the ‘principal treasures’ of the crown, of both strategic and economic importance. It was home to the staple , the crown-controlled marketplace for England's lucrative textile trade, whose substantial customs and tax revenues flooded into Henry's coffers.
  • (by extension) Place of supply; source.
  • * Macaulay
  • Whitehall naturally became the chief staple of news. Whenever there was a rumour that any thing important had happened or was about to happen, people hastened thither to obtain intelligence from the fountain head.
  • The principal commodity produced in a town or region.
  • * Trench
  • We should now say, Cotton is the great staple , that is, the established merchandize, of Manchester.
  • * 1929 , , , Chapter VIII, Section ii:
  • The pastoral industry, which had weathered the severe depression of the early forties by recourse to boiling down the sheep for their tallow, and was now firmly re-established as the staple industry of the colony, was threatened once more with eclipse.
  • A basic or essential supply.
  • Rice is a staple in the diet of many cultures.
  • A recurring topic or character.
  • * 2010 , The Economist , Jul-Aug 2010, p. 27:
  • In most countries, rubbish makes headlines only when it is not collected, and stinking sacks lie heaped on the streets. In Britain bins are a front-page staple .
  • Short fiber, as of cotton, sheep’s wool, or the like, which can be spun into yarn or thread.
  • Tow is flax with short staple .
  • Unmanufactured material; raw material.
  • Verb

    (stapl)
  • To sort according to its staple.
  • to staple cotton

    Adjective

    (-)
  • Relating to, or being market of staple for, commodities.
  • a staple town
  • Established in commerce; occupying the markets; settled.
  • a staple trade
    (Dryden)
  • Fit to be sold; marketable.
  • (Swift)
  • Regularly produced or manufactured in large quantities; belonging to wholesale traffic; principal; chief.
  • * Hallam
  • wool, the great staple commodity of England

    Etymology 2

    Probably from (etyl) , from (etyl).

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A wire fastener used to secure stacks of paper by penetrating all the sheets and curling around.
  • A wire fastener used to secure something else by penetrating and curling.
  • Can you believe they use staples to hold cars together these days?
  • A U-shaped metal fastener, used to attach fence wire or other material to posts or structures.
  • The rancher used staples to attach the barbed wire to the fence-posts.
  • One of a set of U-shaped metal rods hammered into a structure, such as a piling or wharf, which serve as a ladder.
  • Fortunately, there were staples in the quay wall, and she was able to climb out of the water.
  • (mining) A shaft, smaller and shorter than the principal one, joining different levels.
  • A small pit.
  • A district granted to an abbey.
  • (Camden)

    Verb

    (stapl)
  • To secure with a staple.
  • Derived terms
    * stapler

    Anagrams

    * ----