English · Idiom Candidate

tick over

Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Both English Tiếng Việt

Meaning · English

to continue operating or functioning at a low level

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

Tiếp tục hoạt động hoặc vận hành ở mức thấp

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Literally: a clock's tick marking time

Where it’s used: Used Widespread English

Examples

The company is just ticking over until the new investment arrives

AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)

Sources & notes

Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.

Common questions

What does “tick over” mean?

to continue operating or functioning at a low level Literally: a clock's tick marking time

Is “tick over” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.

👁 Views 0 today 0 past 7 days 0 this month 0 all time