ticking

2 definitions • 3 examples

a strong cotton material, usually with stripes, that is used to cover bed mattresses (= that you lie on) or pillows (= that you lay your head on):

The mattresses and ticking for them were ordered from a local maker.

the repeated short sound made by clocks and watches, or the action of making this sound :

ticking of The only sound in the room was the loud ticking of the clock on the mantelpiece.

He thought he heard ticking coming from the device.