click

noun

1. A brief, sharp, not particularly loud, relatively high-pitched sound produced by the impact of something small and hard against something hard, such as by the operation of a switch, a lock, or a latch.

   “As I turned the key, the lock gave a click and the door opened.”

   “There was a click in the front sitting-room. Mr. Pearce had extinguished the lamp.”

2. (British)The act of snapping one's fingers.
3. An ingressive sound made by coarticulating a velar or uvular closure with another closure.

   “tsk is a click in English.”

4. The sound made by a dolphin.
5. The act of operating a switch, etc., so that it clicks.
6. The act of pressing a button on a computer mouse or similar input device, both as a physical act and a reaction in the software.
7. (broadly)A single instance of content on the Internet being accessed.

   “The dirty secret of the internet is that all this distraction and interruption is immensely profitable. Web companies like to boast about[…]and so on. But the real way to build a successful online business is to be better than your rivals at undermining people's control of their own attention. Partly, this is a result of how online advertising has traditionally worked: advertisers pay for clicks, and a click is a click, however it's obtained.”

   “Internet traffic to legal pornography sites in the UK comprised 8.5% of all "clicks" on web pages in June – exceeding those for shopping, news, business or social networks, according to new data obtained exclusively by the Guardian.”

8. A pawl or similar catch.

   “A wheel, with teeth in which a click or pawl engages to prevent backward motion; or the same with addition of another click through which power is imparted at intervals to move the wheel.”

9. (UK, obsolete, slang)A knock or blow.

   “This roused the tinker's choler, already provoked at Tugwell's amorous freedom with his doxy, and he gave him a click in the mazard. Tugwell had not been used tamely to receive a kick or a cuff; he, therefore, gave the tinker a rejoinder, […]”

10. A limb contortion at the joint, part of vogue dancing.
11. (informal)A click track.

    “But I knew I needed a click, so we put a click on the 24-track, which then was synced to the Moog Modular.”

12. (alt-of, alternative)Alternative spelling of klick (“kilometers; kilometers per hour”).
13. A detent, pawl, or ratchet, such as that which catches the cogs of a ratchet wheel to prevent backward motion.
14. (UK, dialectal)The latch of a door.
15. A kind of throw.

    “inside click; outside click; cross click”

16. (US, alt-of, misspelling)Misspelling of clique.

verb

1. (transitive)To cause to make a click; to operate (a switch, etc) so that it makes a click.

   “[Jove] clicked all his marble thumbs.”

   “She clicked back the bolt which held the window sash.”

   “When merry milkmaids click the latch, / And rarely smells the new-mown hay, / […] / Alone and warming his five wits, / The white owl in the belfry sits.”

   “His voice rose in a clacking chatter; his long whip curled over the backs of the dogs, and, eager for the thrill of the trail, the malemiuts leaped out in a straight tawny line, whimpering and whining and clicking their jaws […]”

   “Dan clicked his tongue.”

2. (intransitive)To emit a click.

   “Surely that picture will be fixed for ever, for I heard the cameras clicking round me like crickets in a field.”

3. (British)To snap one's fingers.
4. To press and release (a button on a computer mouse).
5. (transitive)To select a software item using, usually, but not always, the pressing of a mouse button.
6. (transitive)To visit (a website).

   “Visit a location, call, or click www.example.com.”

7. (intransitive)To navigate by clicking a mouse button.

   “I soon grew bored and clicked away from the site.”

   “From the home page, click through to the Products section.”

8. (intransitive)To make sense suddenly.

   “Then it clicked—I had been going the wrong way all that time.”

9. (intransitive)To get along well.

   “When we met at the party, we just clicked and we’ve been best friends ever since.”

   “After tea, the bright boys wash, clean their boots, and change into their “second-best” attire, and stroll forth[…]; sometimes to saunter, in company with others, up and down that parade until they “click” with one of the “birds.””

10. (dated, intransitive)To tick.

    “the varnish'd clock that click'd behind the door”

11. (India, transitive)To take (a photograph) with a camera.

    “Brad immediately took out his Iphone^([sic]) and clicked a picture of the plant and posted it up on Google and clicked search.”

    “They clicked some pictures outside his sea facing bungalow and left dejected again.”

12. (India, intransitive)To achieve success in one's career or a breakthrough, often the first time.
13. (India, intransitive)Of a film, to be successful at the box office.
14. (obsolete)To snatch.

    “‘I take 'em to prevent abuses,’ Cants he, and then the Crucifix And Chalice from the Altar clicks.”

15. (US, alt-of, misspelling)Misspelling of clique.

intj

1. The sound of a click.

   “Click! The door opened.”

name

1. (countable, uncountable)A surname.
2. (countable, uncountable)A ghost town in Llano County, Texas, United States, named after settler Malachi Click.