English Explanatory Dictionary

tickle

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. The act of tickling.
  2. An itchy feeling resembling the result of tickling.
  3. A light tap of the ball.
  4. A narrow strait, such as between an island and the shore.
verb
  1. To touch repeatedly or stroke delicately in a manner which typically causes laughter, pleasure and twitching.
  2. To feel as if the body part in question is being tickled.
  3. To appeal to someone's taste, curiosity etc.
  4. To cause delight or amusement in.
  5. To feel titillation.
  6. To catch fish in the hand (usually in rivers or smaller streams) by manually stimulating the fins.
  7. To be excited or heartened.
adj
  1. Changeable, capricious; insecure.
adv
  1. Insecurely, precariously, unstably.
name
  1. A habitational surname from Old English.

Pronunciation

/ˈtɪkl̩/ en-us-tickle.ogg

Word forms

tickle tickles tickling tickled more tickle most tickle

Etymology

From Middle English tiklen, tikelen, of uncertain origin. Perhaps from a frequentative form of Middle English tikken (“to touch lightly”), thus equivalent to tick + -le; or perhaps related to Old English tinclian (“to tickle”). Compare North Frisian tigele (“to tickle”) (Hallig dialect), and tiikle (“to tickle”) (Amrum dialect), German dialectal zicklen (“to excite; stir up”). Alternatively, from a metathetic alteration of Middle English kitelen ("to tickle"; see kittle). Both are ultimately sound-symbolic.

Synonyms

kittle

Derived words

knee ticklers rib-tickling slap and tickle tickle-footed tickle pink tickler tickle someone's fancy tickle someone's funny bone tickle someone's pickle tickle the dragon's tail tickle the ear tickle the ivories tickle the ivory tickle the wire ticklish tickly Tommy come tickle me
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