Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun the idling of an engine
  • noun by extension doing a gentle amount of work

Etymologies

Sorry, no etymologies found.

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Examples

  • The England team have wound down their pre-Ashes practice now, more than anything an exercise in ticking-over before getting outdoors in Perth at the weekend, but Tim Bresnan and Stuart Broad were bowling under the tutelage of David Saker, while Jonathan Trott, insatiable worker and usually the only one left to turn off the lights, was there with Graham Gooch and his dog-ball thrower.

    No spin required as the ECB gets its coaching house in order Mike Selvey 2010

  • He was as polite as a diplomat about it, and we immediately racheted our conversation level down from landing jumbo jet to ticking-over helicopter.

    Archive 2006-02-01 2006

  • He was as polite as a diplomat about it, and we immediately racheted our conversation level down from landing jumbo jet to ticking-over helicopter.

    What I cooked last night. 2006

  • These are mere ticking-over fights that nonetheless will milk the beast of a few more bucks.

    The Guardian World News 2009

  • "I remember as we 'taxied' over the aerodrome that the roar of the engine on each side of me, the flashing of lights, the other machines as they passed us or waited with slowly 'ticking-over props' for us to pass, the different-colored lights which were being fired down from machines already in the air and the lights fired up from the ground, all combined and whirled through my excited brain like a meaningless nightmare.

    Night Bombing with the Bedouins Robert Henry Reece

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