Ticking Over

The England team have wound down their pre-Ashes practice now, more than anything an exercise in ticking-over before getting outdoors in Perth at the weekend, but Tim Bresnan and Stuart Broad were bowling under the tutelage of David Saker, while Jonathan Trott, insatiable worker and usually the only one left to turn off the lights, was there with Graham Gooch and his dog-ball thrower. ❋ Mike Selvey (2010)

He was as polite as a diplomat about it, and we immediately racheted our conversation level down from landing jumbo jet to ticking-over helicopter. ❋ Unknown (2006)

These are mere ticking-over fights that nonetheless will milk the beast of a few more bucks. ❋ Unknown (2009)

"I remember as we 'taxied' over the aerodrome that the roar of the engine on each side of me, the flashing of lights, the other machines as they passed us or waited with slowly 'ticking-over props' for us to pass, the different-colored lights which were being fired down from machines already in the air and the lights fired up from the ground, all combined and whirled through my excited brain like a meaningless nightmare. ❋ Robert Henry Reece (N/A)