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what makes one tick
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Idioms and Phrases
What makes one function characteristically, what motivates one, as in We've never figured out what makes these chess players tick . This expression alludes to tick in the sense of “function as an operating mechanism, such as a clock.” [ Colloquial ; first half of 1900s]Advertisement
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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