Trim vs Tack - What's the difference?
trim | tack |
To reduce slightly; to cut; especially, to remove excess; e.g. 'trim a hedge', 'trim a beard'. The adposition of can be used in present perfect tense to designate the removed part.
To decorate or adorn; especially, to decorate a Christmas tree.
* Milton
* Shakespeare
* {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham)
, title=(The China Governess)
, chapter=1 (nautical) To modify the angle of a vessel to the water by shifting cargo or ballast; to adjust for sailing; to assume, or cause a vessel to assume, a certain position, or trim, in the water. (FM 55-501).
* 1883 ,
(nautical) To modify the angle of a vessel's sails relative to the wind, especially to set the sails to the most advantageous angle.
(dated) To balance; to fluctuate between parties, so as to appear to favour each.
To make trim; to put in due order for any purpose; to make right, neat, or pleasing; to adjust.
* Goldsmith
(carpentry) To dress (timber); to make smooth.
(dated) To rebuke; to reprove; also, to beat.
(uncountable) Decoration; especially, decoration placed along edges or borders.
(countable) A haircut, especially a moderate one to touch up an existing style.
Dress; gear; ornaments.
* Sir Walter Scott
(countable) The manner in which something is equipped or adorned; order; disposition.
Sexual intercourse.
(nautical) The fore-and-aft angle of the vessel to the water, with reference to the cargo and ballast; the manner in which a vessel floats on the water, whether on an even keel or down by the head or stern.
(nautical) The arrangement of the sails with reference to the wind.
Physically fit.
:
Slender, lean.
:
Neat or smart in appearance.
:
*1599 , (William Shakespeare), (Much Ado About Nothing) ,
*:manhood is melted into curtsies, valour into compliment, and men are only turned into tongue, and trim ones too: he is now as valiant as Hercules that only tells a lie and swears it.
*
*:“A tight little craft,” was Austin’s invariable comment on the matron; and she looked it, always trim and trig and smooth of surface like a converted yacht cleared for action. ¶ Near her wandered her husband, orientally bland, invariably affable,.
(nautical) In good order, properly managed or maintained.
(nautical) With sails well trimmed.
A small nail with a flat head.
* 2012 , July 15. Richard Williams in Guardian Unlimited,
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:
(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.
Hardtack.
* 1913 , D. H. Lawrence, "Sons and Lovers":
That which is attached; a supplement; an appendix.
* Bishop Burnet
(legal, Scotland) A contract by which the use of a thing is set, or let, for hire; a lease.
(obsolete) Confidence; reliance.
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.
Often paired with "up", to place the tack on a horse.
As verbs the difference between trim and tack
is that trim is to reduce slightly; to cut; especially, to remove excess; eg 'trim a hedge', 'trim a beard' the adposition of can be used in present perfect tense to designate the removed part while tack is .As adjectives the difference between trim and tack
is that trim is physically fit while tack is pretty, beautiful.As a noun trim
is (uncountable) decoration; especially, decoration placed along edges or borders.As an adverb trim
is (nautical) in good order, properly managed or maintained.trim
English
(wikipedia trim)Verb
- (present perfect example)
- A rotten building newly trimmed over.
- I was trimmed in Julia's gown.
citation, passage=The half-dozen pieces […] were painted white and carved with festoons of flowers, birds and cupids. […] The bed was the most extravagant piece. Its graceful cane halftester rose high towards the cornice and was so festooned in carved white wood that the effect was positively insecure, as if the great couch were trimmed with icing sugar.}}
- The captain made us trim the boat, and we got her to lie a little more evenly.
- The hermit trimmed his little fire.
Noun
(en noun)- Paint the house white with blue trim .
- I went to the hairdresser for a trim but came back nearly bald.
- seeing him just pass the window in his woodland trim
- The car comes in three different trims .
- to be in good trim
- (Chapman)
Adjective
(trimmer)Adverb
(-)Usage notes
* More often used in combinations, eg, "trim-sailed".Anagrams
* ----tack
English
Etymology 1
From , probably from a (etyl) source.Noun
(en noun)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.
- I thought that my refusing Barnard would alienate Botha, and decided that such a tack was too risky.
- The laminate adhesive has very aggressive tack and is hard to move once in place.
- "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!"
- Some tacks had been made to money bills in King Charles's time.
- (Macaulay)
- (Burrill)
- (Halliwell)
Synonyms
* (nautical maneuver) coming aboutHyponyms
* (nail-like object for affixing thin things) thumbtackDerived terms
* Blu-Tack * hardtack * thumbtackVerb
(en verb)- to tack (something) onto (something)