thumbtack
- noun
- /ˈθʌmˌtæk/
- US
- Red shakes his head and stands in front of the map, placing thumbtacks at crossroads indicated by the circle mark.
People just hitting each other in the face with damn shaving cream lotion and running around and putting thumbtacks on the stairs.
- People just hitting each other in the face with damn shaving cream lotion and running around and putting thumbtacks on the stairs.
- For example, ordinary thumbtacks, cheap white envelopes, the plastic forks given at some drive in restaurants or Duchamps, ready made like Fountain.
Examples
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The poster was held in place with several thumbtacks on the wall.
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I almost want to put a thumbtack here, not a pin.
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Last year the clinic spent over $100 just on thumbtacks.
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All the photographs are hanging crooked like they are just old business cards stuck with thumbtacks.
Fiction book (1997) -
Adler surveys the map and sticks in a few more thumbtacks.
Fiction book (1993) -
Thumbtack holes dotted the pale yellow walls from the dozens of posters she'd hung up over the years.
Fiction book (2001) -
He mounted the posters with thumbtacks from an old corkboard that hung in the kitchen.
Fiction book (1997) -
She used a thumbtack to attach the document to the corkboard.
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He removed the thumbtack carefully to avoid damaging the paper.
Synonyms
A small nail with a flat head used to fasten things
A small pin with a round head used to hold paper on a board
A short pin with a flat head that attaches paper to a wall or board
A small metal nail used to hold light things like paper on a board
How Secure
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
Thumbtack comes from the parts thumb and tack, literally 'thumb' and 'small nail', because people push the pin in with their thumb. That's why a thumbtack is a short pin with a flat head used to fasten papers to a board.