noun
- a hard, saltless biscuit, formerly much used aboard ships and for army rations.
noun
- Irish informal whisky
noun
- a kind of hard saltless biscuit, formerly eaten esp by sailors as a staple aboard shipAlso called: pilot biscuit, ship’s biscuit, sea biscuit
1836, “ship’s biscuit,” from hard (adj.) + tack (n.3); soft-tack was soft wheaten bread.