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Definition of tack : 1. A contract by which the use of a thing is set, or let, for hire; a lease.
2. A peculiar flavor or taint; as, a musty tack.
3. A rope used to hold in place the foremost lower corners of the courses when the vessel is closehauled ( see Illust. of Ship); also, a rope employed to pull the lower corner of a studding sail to the boom.
4. A small, short, sharp- pointed nail, usually having a broad, flat head.
5. A stain; a tache.
6. Confidence; reliance.
7. Especially, to attach or secure in a slight or hasty manner, as by stitching or nailing; as, to tack together the sheets of a book; to tack one piece of cloth to another; to tack on a board or shingle; to tack one piece of metal to another by drops of solder.
8. In parliamentary usage, to add ( a supplement) to a bill; to append; - often with on or to.
9. That which is attached; a supplement; an appendix. See Tack, v. t., 3.
10. The direction of a vessel in regard to the trim of her sails; as, the starboard tack, or port tack; - the former when she is closehauled with the wind on her starboard side; hence, the run of a vessel on one tack; also, a change of direction.
11. The part of a sail to which the tack is usually fastened; the foremost lower corner of fore- and- aft sails, as of schooners ( see Illust. of Sail).
12. To change the direction of ( a vessel) when sailing closehauled, by putting the helm alee and shifting the tacks and sails so that she will proceed to windward nearly at right angles to her former course.
13. To change the direction of a vessel by shifting the position of the helm and sails; also ( as said of a vessel), to have her direction changed through the shifting of the helm and sails. See Tack, v. t., 4.
14. To fasten or attach.

Synonyms:

replace, modus operandi, ground, flip out, winding-clothes, boater, found, tacking, mainsheet, bit, meet, leaf, tangent, tactic, come about, erect, secure, gear up, flat solid, plane, take in, pall, thumb, horsewhip, how, method, deviation, blinders, patch, winding-sheet, clipboard, change, the America's Cup, way, pick, hold the line, screw, counterchange, means, canvass, mend, approach, siding, bail out, ready, prepare, hurdle, course, flip-flop, supplement, twitch, persevere, riffle, form, supply, gather, take turns, blotter, basis, throw, tabloid, acetate, get together, change over, understudy, heave to, hang on, bridle, trade, affix, butterfly nut, switch over, carbon, wear round, order, bed sheet, interchange, founder, effectuate, basting, the Admiral's Cup, substitute, put together, methodology, exchange, piece, flip, sweep, establish, boating, foregather, berth, put up, canoe, capsize, style, crop, basting stitch, manner, business card, effect, yaw, launch, girth, strategy, tack on, set up, ahoy, join, swop, sky, saddlery, go about, append, put in, variation, line, carbon paper, alter, hydroplane, recipe, hang in, stable gear, lay out, rig, tactics, plug, zigzag, sheet of paper, persist, system, technique, clobber, heel, instal, mode, add on, attack, dowel, pitch, cerement, turn up, frame, jump, forgather, dock, fix, card, swerve, weather sheet, twist, fashion, blotting paper, ensnare, sheet, correction fluid, add, flick, entrap, hold on, nibble, flip over, nut, install, tag on, attach, sail, riff, cast off, piece of paper, harness, rag, switch, digression, batter, alteration, set, plan, procedure, rear, alternate, toss, pin up, shift, turn, shroud, transpose, turn over, assemble, head, let out, put, canvas, tack together, beach, fence, swap, arrange, halter, raise

tether, lash, weave, zip, fasten, plait, couple, connect

barb, spine, hat pin, spit, thumbtack, awl, fishhook, prong, spear, spur, pike, lance, quill, gimlet, harpoon, needle

baste, seam, chain-stitch, knit, crochet, cross-stitch, sew, purl, embroider, quilt, backstitch, bind, buttonhole

guy, connector, brace, hook, staple, anchor, bracket, mucilage, fuse, hawser, snap, vinculum, knot, hinge, skewer, tie, ligament, belt, nail, go-between, hitch, cinch, mediator, cotter, stay, fastener, medium, grapnel, cleat, fastening, rabbet, splice, thread, string, clasp, closure, strap, band, agent, chain, buckle, weld, rivet, paste, catch, braid, link, clamp, twine, hasp, pin, binding, latch, clinch, lock, brad, cincture, coupling, lace, bonding, spike, zipper, clip, binder, bolt, seal, suture, stitch, knitting, middleman, bond, vise, button, glue, cement

Usage examples:

• There was a tack stickin' square in the middle of her back! - "Susan Clegg and a Man in the House", Anne Warner.
• Excuse me, sir, but I think we must not listen if you go on that tack. - "Viking Boys", Jessie Margaret Edmondston Saxby.
• In the middle of the night, having moved slightly, I felt a sharp and sudden pain in my right temple, exactly as if I had rolled upon a sharp, hot tack. - "In Indian Mexico (1908)", Frederick Starr.