tuck

verb

1. (transitive)To pull or gather up (an item of fabric).
2. (transitive)To push into a snug position; to place somewhere safe, or handy, or somewhat hidden.

   “Tuck in your shirt.  I tucked in the sheet.  He tucked the $10 bill into his shirt pocket.”

   “She tucked her hair behind her ear.”

   “It was flood-tide along Fifth Avenue; motor, brougham, and victoria swept by on the glittering current; pretty women glanced out from limousine and tonneau; young men of his own type, silk-hatted, frock-coated, the crooks of their walking sticks tucked up under their left arms, passed on the Park side.”

3. (intransitive, often)To eat; to consume.
4. (ergative)To fit neatly.

   “The sofa tucks nicely into that corner.”

   “Kenwood House is tucked into a corner of Hampstead Heath.”

5. To curl into a ball; to fold up and hold one's legs.

   “The diver tucked, flipped, and opened up at the last moment.”

6. To sew folds; to make a tuck or tucks in.

   “to tuck a dress”

7. To full, as cloth.
8. (ambitransitive)Of a drag queen, trans woman, etc., to conceal one's penis and testicles, as with a gaff or by fastening them down with adhesive tape.

   “Honey, have you tucked today? We don't wanna see anything nasty down there.”

9. To keep the thumb in position while moving the rest of the hand over it to continue playing piano keys that are outside the thumb (when playing scales).
10. (abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis)Ellipsis of Mach tuck.

    “Never take a first-generation Learjet past Mach 0.82; it'll tuck hard nose-down and you won't be able to pull out from the dive.”

noun

1. (countable, uncountable)An act of tucking; a pleat or fold.
2. (countable, uncountable)A fold in fabric that has been stitched in place from end to end, as to reduce the overall dimension of the fabric piece.
3. (countable, uncountable)A curled position.
4. (countable, uncountable)A plastic surgery technique to remove excess skin.

   “tummy tuck”

5. (countable, uncountable)The act of keeping the thumb in position while moving the rest of the hand over it to continue playing keys that are outside the thumb.
6. (countable, uncountable)A curled position, with the shins held towards the body.
7. (countable, uncountable)The afterpart of a ship, immediately under the stern or counter, where the ends of the bottom planks are collected and terminate by the tuck-rail.
8. (British, India, dated, uncountable)Food, especially snack food.

   “'What on earth do Coker and his parcel of tuck matter to us? You're not thinking of snooping his tuck, I suppose, like Bunter.'”

9. (archaic)A rapier, a sword.

   “[…] with force he labour'd / To free's blade from retentive scabbard; / And after many a painful pluck, / From rusty durance he bail'd tuck […]”

   “[...] dismount thy tuck, be yare in thy preparation, for thy assailant is quick, skilful, and deadly. [...]”

   “He wore large hose,[…] and a tuck, as it was then called, or rapier, of tremendous length.”

10. The beat of a drum.

name

1. (countable, uncountable)A surname.
2. (countable, uncountable)A diminutive of the male given name Tucker.
3. (countable, uncountable)An unincorporated community in Daviess County, Kentucky, United States.