tick

n. 1. A jiffy (sense 1). 2. In simulations, the discrete unit of time that
passes between iterations of the simulation mechanism. In AI applications,
this amount of time is often left unspecified, since the only constraint of
interest is the ordering of events. This sort of AI simulation is often
pejoratively referred to as tick-tick-tick simulation, especially when the
issue of simultaneity of events with long, independent chains of causes is
handwave d. 3. In the FORTH language, a single quote character.

