tickle
pronunciation
How to pronounce tickle in British English:
UK [ˈtɪkl]
How to pronounce tickle in American English:
US [ˈtɪkl]
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- Noun:
- a cutaneous sensation often resulting from light stroking
- the act of tickling
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- Verb:
- touch (a body part) lightly so as to excite the surface nerves and cause uneasiness, laughter, or spasmodic movements
- feel sudden intense sensation or emotion
- touch or stroke lightly
Word Origin
- tickle
- tickle: see tick
- tickle (v.)
- early 14c. (intransitive) "to be thrilled or tingling," of uncertain origin, possibly a frequentative form of tick (v.) in its older sense of "to touch." The Old English form was tinclian. Some suggest a metathesis of kittle (Middle English kytyllen), from Dutch kietelen, from a common North Sea Germanic word for "to tickle" (compare Old Norse kitla, Old High German kizzilon, German kitzeln). Meaning "to excite agreeably" (late 14c.) is a translation of Latin titillare. Meaning "to touch lightly so as to cause a peculiar and uneasy sensation in the nerves" is recorded from late 14c.; that of "to poke or touch so as to excite laughter" is from early 15c.; figurative sense of "to excite, amuse" is attested from 1680s. Related: Tickled; tickling. The noun is recorded from 1801. To tickle (one's) fancy is from 1640s.
Example
- 1. Would you tickle a gorilla ?
- 2. Tickle me elmo is the eniac of fractional ai .
- 3. I am so sensitive to touch that a tickle hurts me .
- 4. The next time you feel a tickle in your throat , try using a natural and organic treatment you just might grow to love .
- 5. " It is a pistol let off at the ear ; not a feather to tickle the intellect , " wrote charles lamb , a british essayist .