Tack vs Task - What's the difference?
tack | task |
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.
A piece of work done as part of one’s duties.
* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-10, volume=408, issue=8848, magazine=(The Economist)
, title= A difficult or tedious undertaking.
* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-19, author=
, volume=189, issue=6, page=34, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly)
, title= An objective.
(computing) A process or execution of a program.
To assign a task to, or impose a task on.
* 1610 , , act 1 scene 2
* Dryden
To oppress with severe or excessive burdens; to tax.
To charge, as with a fault.
* Beaumont and Fletcher
As verbs the difference between tack and task
is that tack is while task is to assign a task to, or impose a task on.As an adjective tack
is pretty, beautiful.As a noun task is
a piece of work done as part of one’s duties.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)
Synonyms
* to change tackAntonyms
* to wearSee also
* * Blu-TackEtymology 2
From an old or dialectal form of (etyl) tache. See techy.task
English
Noun
(en noun)A new prescription, passage=As the world's drug habit shows, governments are failing in their quest to monitor every London window-box and Andean hillside for banned plants. But even that Sisyphean task looks easy next to the fight against synthetic drugs. No sooner has a drug been blacklisted than chemists adjust their recipe and start churning out a subtly different one.}}
Ian Sample
Irregular bedtimes may affect children's brains, passage=Irregular bedtimes may disrupt healthy brain development in young children, according to a study of intelligence and sleeping habits. ¶ Going to bed at a different time each night affected girls more than boys, but both fared worse on mental tasks than children who had a set bedtime, researchers found.}}
Usage notes
* Adjectives often applied to "task": difficult, easy, simple, hard, tough, complex, not-so-easy, challenging, complicated, tricky, formidable, arduous, laborious, onerous, small, big, huge, enormous, tremendous, gigantic, mammoth, colossal, gargantuan, social, intellectual, theological, important, basic, trivial, unpleasant, demanding, pleasant, noble, painful, grim, responsible, rewarding, boring, ungrateful, delightful, glorious, agreeable.Synonyms
* (piece of work) chore * (difficult undertaking) undertaking * (objective) objective, goal * (process) processDerived terms
* multitasking * subtask * task force * take to task * taskable * taskbody * tasklet * taskmasterVerb
(en verb)- On my first day in the office, I was tasked with sorting a pile of invoices.
- All hail, great master! grave sir, hail! I come / To answer thy best pleasure; be't to fly, / To swim, to dive into the fire, to ride / On the curl'd clouds, to thy strong bidding task / Ariel and all his quality.
- There task thy maids, and exercise the loom.
- Too impudent to task me with those errors.