tick
n. countablen. a very short amount of time. You use this when you want to say you will do something almost immediately.
n. a brief, unspecified interval of time. Primarily used in British English within idiomatic expressions to indicate immediacy.
I will be with you in a tick.
Wait just a tick while I finish saving this document before we head out to lunch.
The system update should only take a tick, provided the server connection remains stable throughout the installation process.
From Middle English tyke, teke, from Old English ticia (“parasitic animal, tick”), from Proto-West Germanic *tīkō, compare Dutch teek, German Zecke.
From Middle English *tik, tek, tyche (“light touch, tap”), from the verb (see Etymology 3 below). Compare Dutch tik (“a pat, tap”), Middle High German zic (“a slight touch”).
From Middle English ticken, tiken, probably from Old English ticcian (“to touch, tap”), from Proto-West Germanic tikkōn (“to touch, tap”), cognate with German zecken (“to nudge, poke, jab”). Doublet of tig.
From Middle English tike, probably from Middle Dutch tike and Middle Low German teke, both ultimately from Latin theca (“cover”). Compare also German Zieche (“duvet, pillowcase”).
Clipping of ticket.
From Middle English tik-, tic-, tike-, tiken- (in compounds), an unassibilated form of Middle English tiche, tichen (“young goat”), from Old English tiċċen (“young goat; kid”), from Proto-West Germanic tikkīn (“goatling”), diminutive of Proto-West Germanic tigā (“goat”). Cognate with regional German Zicke (“nanny goat”), from Ziege (“goat; nanny goat”).
Commonly used in the prepositional phrases 'in a tick' or 'in two ticks'.