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Glite Dictionary
🧵 Temporary sewing ⛵ Changing direction
tacking

tacking

8.6
Turning a sailboat through the wind so it sails on the other side
  • noun
  • /ˈtækɪŋ/
  • Specialized
translation icon : virar
  • I would think something like a tacking maneuver, like a sailboat, adjusting the tension on the lines would allow for a complete "circuit" of the track...

It's it's very hard to see where our core now is, but if it's still there, as I think it is, then there's everything to play for in tacking to the centre.

Examples

  • This works like 'tacking' in sailing.

    Blog text (22)

  • The dog eventually rose shakily onto its tripod and, in a series of vague tacking maneuvers, made its way back under the porch.

    Fiction book (1997)

  • The sailor skillfully navigated the waters by performing a series of tacking maneuvers to adjust the boat's course against the wind.

  • Tacking is essential for a sailing vessel to make progress in the wind by zigzagging towards its destination.

  • During the race, the crew used tacking to efficiently change direction and maintain speed while sailing into the wind.

Synonyms

tack
vstacking
  • Specialized
18 7.7

The direction a sailing boat moves relative to the wind

refers to the action of changing course by turning the bow through the wind

Surface Forms

tacking singular
tackings plural

Morphology

tacking = tack (transparent) = tack + ing

A regular gerund/nominalization of the nautical verb 'tack'; the action meaning is directly derived by adding -ing.

Etymology

Tacking in sailing comes from tack, a word for the ropes and gear on a ship, and from the idea of changing them 'to turn the front of the boat through the wind'. So tacking is the action of turning the boat so the wind moves from one side to the other.