tick off

tick off

Meaning | Synonyms

• to make amark next to items on a list that have been completed
• to makesomeone angry or offended
• to be angrywith someone
• toreprimand someone
• to countthings off on your fingers
• to tell off
• to rebuke orscold
• give atalking-to
• haul overthe coals
• take totask

Example Sentences

1. I wouldlike to tick off some more items onmy list before going home.
2. Please tick off the learners' names as theyenter the classroom.
3. Hisattitude really ticks me off.
4.  I am very tickedoff with my sister for using my cell phone without asking.
5. He ticked me off for forgetting his birthday. 
6. She ticked off all of the things that shestill had to do before the end of the day.
7. Jackieshared things to tick off the listbefore leaving home for an international holiday.
8. Please readthe complete list and tick off theappropriate boxes.
9. My decisionis going to tick off my entirefamily.
10. The mostimportant thing to tick off the listis my mobile phone.
11. If we makesome more money, then a new family car is one more thing we can tick off the list.
12. There arelots of things I want to tick off thelist of things-to-do before I die.

Origin

As there are so many different definitions for the phrase, the origins all date back to different times. The earliest being the 1800s, meaning “a small mark or dot used to indicate a sale.”

The more figurative use of thephrase can be traced back to the early 1900s. It was first published in WilfredOwen's Collected Letters in 1915:

He has been ‘ticked-off' four or five times for it…

The more well-known meaningonly dates from the 1960s.

The letter that really ticked me off was…