Now rare. Also 6–7 tatch. [a. OF. tache fibula (14th c.), also a large nail: cf. Genevese tache, Languedoc tacho nail with broad round head, hob-nail, tack, tacket, Sp. tacha a kind of nail; also (from OF.) MDu. taetse, Du. taats, a round-headed nail, an iron pin. A doublet of TACK sb.1 The root is also that of F. attacher, détacher, Eng. ATTACH, DETACH. See Diez and Littré. Sense 2 may be in origin a different word.]
1. A contrivance for fastening two parts together; a fibula, a clasp, a buckle, a hook and eye, or the like; a hook for hanging anything on. Obs. or arch.
14[?]. Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 583/10. Fibula, a tache or a laas [or a botun].
1452. Maldon, Essex, Crt. Rolls (Bundle 31, No. 2 b), A tache of sylver … for a monkis hode.
c. 1500. Melusine, 304. Thenne geffray cutte the taches of the geant helmet, and after cutte of his heed.
1530. Palsgr., 279/1. Tache for a gowne, atache.
1535. in Ripon Ch. Acts (Surtees), 359. j tach with j ruby ston.
1535. Coverdale, Num. xxxi. 50. Brynge we a present vnto the Lorde what euery one hath,… bracelettes, rynges, earinges and taches.
1582. Stanyhurst, Æneis, IV. (Arb.), 99. With gould tache thee vesture purple is holden.
1611. Bible, Exod. xxvi. 6. Thou shalt make fiftie taches [1885 R.V. clasps] of gold, and couple the curtaines together with the taches.
1641. Evelyn, Diary, Aug. A lamp … hanging loose upon a tach in the middst of a beame.
1668. Wilkins, Real Char., II. vii. 184. Hook, Crook, Clasp, Hasp, Tatches.
1867. H. Macmillan, Bible Teach., xiv. (1870), 274. Taches of gold … connecting together the curtains of the tabernacle.
† b. A band or strap that may be fastened round anything. Obs. rare.
1610. Holland, Camden’s Brit., I. 287. It came into [K. Richard’s] mind to draw upon the legs of certaine choise Knights of his a certaine Garter or tach of leather.
1611. Speed, Theat. Gt. Brit., xiv. (1614), 27/2. K. Richard the First … girt the legs of certaine choise knights with a tache of leather, which promised a future glory to the wearers.
c. fig. A means of attachment, a link, a bond of connection.
1701. J. Law, Counc. Trade (1751), 225. Here is no such bar or tache, as either to hinder or discourage a thief of any sort from returning to his duty.
1860. Farrar, Orig. Lang., ii. 47. Finally, the word became a middle term of reminiscence, a tach between the external object and the inward impression.
2. techn. A rest for the shank of a punch or drill: see quots. Now dial.
1683. Moxon, Mech. Exerc., Printing, xii. ¶ 9. The Tach is … to rest and hold the Shank of a Punch steady … while the Work-man Files. Ibid., 392. Tache, a small Board with Notches in its Fore-edge … to rest the Shank of a Punch in.
1829. in J. Hunter, Hallamshire Gloss.
1888–90. Sheffield Gloss., Tache (taiche) … has been defined for me as ‘a stake or rest used by silversmiths, and fixed in the workbench.’
3. Comb., as † tach-hook, † tach-nail.
1592. R. D., Hypnerotomachia, 50. The Veluet brought downe to the frame of the Settles … fastened to the same with tatch Nayles of Golde.
1623. trans. Favine’s Theat. Hon., II. xiii. 224. Their long Cloak, or Houpe-land,… tied with a Tach-hooke of Wood.
