How to pronounce tick

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What tick means

noun

Most people know tick in its everyday sense. Here's its other meaning.

The cloth case that holds the stuffing of a mattress

In a sentence: Mom stuffed fresh straw into the old tick to make a new mattress.

Where it comes from: It comes from the Middle English tike, which probably goes back to the Latin theca, a cover or case. It is a different word from the tick that is a check mark.

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