tick over

British

verb

Also: idle. (of an engine) to run at low speed with the throttle control closed and the transmission disengaged
to run smoothly without any major changes

keep the firm ticking over until I get back

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

noun

1. the speed of an engine when it is ticking over
2. ( as modifier )
  
  tick-over speed

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

The generators are precious goods for the district's residents, requiring constant maintenance to keep them ticking over.

From Barron's

Kumar said: "We feel that it is absolutely essential that we can offer a range of goods to keep a house ticking over."

From BBC

By 14:30, it had climbed to five - ticking over from 4.9 seconds after Sinner lost serve.

From BBC

"It's definitely becoming trickier to keep everything ticking over," said McShane, suggesting that larger concert venues should step into help their local affiliates.

From BBC

For a decade, the combination of Danish subsidies, infrastructure investment and rising global prices for halibut, cod and shrimp have helped keep the economy ticking over.

From The Wall Street Journal

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023