▪ I. tickle, n.1
(ˈtɪk(ə)l)
[Generally held to be derived from tickle a. or v., and so to go with tickle n.2 (see quot. 1908); but some would identify it with Eng. dial. stickle ‘a rapid shallow place in a river’. In Nova Scotia also tittle.]
A name given on the coasts of Newfoundland and Labrador to a narrow difficult strait or passage.
| 1770 Chart S.E. Part Newfoundland, [A locality at the head of St. Mary's Bay marked] Tickles. 1792 G. Cartwright Jrnl. Labrador Gloss., Tickle, a passage between the continent and an island, or between two islands, when it is of no great width. 1837 New Sailing Direct. Newf. (ed. 3) 25 note, The word Tickle is a local name, in common use at Newfoundland, and signifies a passage between islands or rocks. 1861 L. L. Noble Icebergs 277 No sooner were we clear of the ‘tickle’, or narrows, than ‘Iceberg ahead!’—‘Ice on the lee bow!’ was cried by the man forward. 1868 Admiralty Chart No. 225 (Labrador), Indian Tickle. 1871 Ibid. No. 291 (Newf.), Change Island Tickles... Stag Harbour Tickle. 1881 Standard 15 July 4/8 In many of the ‘tickles’, ‘guts’, ‘runs’, ‘sounds’,..and inlets there are still to be found tiny villages which date from those old Acadian times. 1905 Daily Chron. 28 Apr. 3/3 See him clinging to the bowsprit, conning the vessel through tortuous ‘tickles’. 1908 Abp. Howley in Newfoundld. Quarterly Mar. 2 The Tickle... It has always been supposed that this name is a plain English word, implying a passage of some danger, so that it is a ‘ticklish’ matter to get safe through. |
▪ II. tickle, n.2
(ˈtɪk(ə)l)
[f. tickle v.]
1. An act of tickling, in various senses of the vb.; a touch that tickles; a tickling sensation; a tickled or pleasantly excited feeling.
| 1801 in Spirit Pub. Jrnls. IX. 376, I want you to give those dogs yonder a tickle, en passant. 1872 Blackmore Maid of Sker v, I gave her [a child] a little tickle; and verily she began to laugh. 1880 Mrs. Whitney Odd or Even ix, And vibrant with an inward tickle. 1907 Daily Chron. 9 Dec. 4/7 The dinner was a tickle of the palate. Mod. (Yorksh. saying) To have ‘tickles in the feet’, said of one given to wandering, who will not settle to any useful work. |
2. Criminals' slang. A successful deal or crime. Cf. tickle v. 6 e.
| 1938 F. D. Sharpe Sharpe of Flying Squad 333 Tickle, a successful deal. 1955 D. Webb Deadline for Crime i. 13 If there is a good tickle, say for as much as {pstlg}10,000, which is as much as anyone got from any job, it soon goes to the birds,..the bookmakers, the hangers-on. 1960 [see graft v.4]. 1979 ‘P. O'Connor’ Into Strong City i. xiv. 48 Keeps me going till the big tickle comes along. |
▪ III. tickle, a. (adv.)
(ˈtɪk(ə)l)
Forms: see the verb; also 4–5 tikil, -ul, tekil, 5 tekyl, -el, tykell, 6 tyckyll, 6–7 tickell, 8 dial. tikkle.
[Goes with tickle v.: the use of the vb.-stem as adj. is unusual; but cf. kittle a. beside kittle v.]
† 1. (Sense uncertain: ? Threatening or in danger to fall. Cf. 6.) Obs.
| c 1325 Body & Soul in Map's Poems (Camden) 346 Þou hauest y-liued to longe, wo wruth the so suykel!.. Pynen harde ant stronge to þe bueþ nou ful tykel. |
† 2. Pleasantly stirred or excited. (Cf. tickle v. 1.) Obs.
| c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 13413 When y byþenke on ȝoure godnesse..Ffor þat ioye myn herte ys tykel. |
† 3. Easily moved to feeling or action; easily affected in any way; not firm or steadfast; loose; also, susceptible to tickling, easily tickled or tingled. tickle credit, ready or facile trust or belief; credulity. Obs.
| 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. (Crowley) v. 166 They are ticle of her tonges, & muste al secretes tel. c 1530 H. Rhodes Bk. Nurture 695 Some men be tickle of tongue, and play the blabs by kynde. 1533 T. Heywood Play of Love C j, The paps so small And rounde with all The wast not myckyll But it was tyckyll. 1553 T. Wilson Rhet. (1580) 3 Euen these auncient Preachers must now and then plaie the fooles in the pulpit, to serue the tickle eares of their fletyng audience. 1563 Mirr. Mag., Hastings xlii, Of tyckle credyte ne had ben the mischiefe. Ibid. lxxvii, Flye tickle credyte, shonne alyke distrust. |
† b. With reference to incontinency. Obs.
| 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. iii. 126 Heo is Tikel of hire Tayl, Talewys of hire tonge, As Comuyn as þe Cart-wei to knaues and to alle. c 1475 Songs & Carols 15th C. (Warton Cl.) 27 Under the tayl they ben ful tekyl. 1604 W. Terilo Fr. Bacon's Proph. 228 in Hazl. E.P.P. IV. 276 Wickednes was loath'd so much, That no man lov'd the tickle tuch. |
† 4. Having the quality of tickling, tickly. Obs.
(Quots. c 1440, 1570 perh. belong here.)
| [c 1440 Promp. Parv. 493/2 Tykel, titillosus. 1570 Levins Manip. 129/14 Tickil, titillenus, -na.] 1593 B. Barnes Parthenophil, Madrigal xvi, Soft things whose touch is tickle to the mind, Give no like touch, all joys in one to wrap. |
5. Not to be depended upon; uncertain (in fact, action, duration, etc.); unreliable; changeable, inconstant, capricious, fickle, ‘kittle’. Now dial.
| 13.. E.E. Allit. P. B. 655 May þou traw for tykel þat þou tonne moȝtez. c 1386 Chaucer Miller's T. 242 This world is now ful tikel [v.rr. tekyl, -el, tikil, tykell] sikerly. 1537 St. Papers Hen. VIII, I. 531, I assure your Lordeship the people be very tykell. 1566 Painter Pal. Pleas. I. 58 Holde fast thy fortune, for she is tickle and can not be holden against her will. 1670 Cotton Espernon iii. xii. 368 His sons..were best acquainted with his tickle & impatient humour. 1737 J. Broadhead in N. & Q. (1895) 8th Ser. VII. 405/1 A pretty deal of Rain in some places westward, Mad[e] Harvest rather Tickle. 1795 Chester Chron. 27 Mar. (E.D.D.), So tikkle as times ar. 1888 Doughty Arabia Deserta II. 158 He must learn the English tongue..who can foresee the years to come, this world is so tickle. |
6. In unstable equilibrium, easily upset or overthrown, insecure, tottering, crazy; also, easily set in motion or action; nicely poised; delicate, sensitive. Now dial. † tickle of the sear: see sear n.1 1 b.
| 1515 in Foxe A. & M. (1583) 809/2 A stoole, which stoole stood vpon a bolster of a bed, so tickle, that any manne or beaste might not touch it so litle, but it was ready to fall. 1555 Act 2 & 3 Phil. & Mary c. 16 §2 Boates..so shallowe & tickle that therby greate perill & danger of drowning hathe many tymes ensued. 1583–1602 [see sear n.1 1 b]. 1612 Chapman Widowes T. Plays 1873 III. 29, I haue set her hart vpon as tickle a pin as the needle of a Diall. 1883 W. Yorks. Gloss. s.v., A mouse-trap should be set tickle, i.e. easy to go off. 1904 in Eng. Dial. Dict. s.v., (Lancs.) That wall's very tickle, you'll have it deawn if yo'r not very careful. |
b. transf. Of a place, condition, etc.: Insecure; precarious, slippery; risky, dangerous. Obs. or arch.
| 1579 Spenser Sheph. Cal. July 14 In humble dales is footing fast, The trode is not so tickle. 1589 Mar-Martine 5 Thilke way & trood whilke thou dost swade, is steepe & also tickle. 1643 Baker Chron., Hen. VII 148 These words..seemed to expresse a tickle hold of Loyalty. 1665 R. Brathwait Comment 2 Tales 129 Conventicles are Tickle places for Holy Sisters. 1681 Cotton Wond. Peak (ed. 4) 43 Footing..still more tickle, and unsafe. 1834 Sir H. Taylor 2nd Pt. Artevelde iii. iii, I oft before have clomb to tickle places, But this will be the last of all my climbing. 1868 Browning Ring & Bk. iv. 51 The grey innocuous grub, of yore, Had hatched a hornet, tickle to the touch. |
7. = ticklish a. 5. Now dial.
| 1569 T. Stocker tr. Diod. Sic. i. xix. 28 The matter stoode upon this tickle and dangerous point. 1581 G. Pettie Guazzo's Civ. Conv. ii. (1586) 71 b, The trueth is a thing so tickle, that a man may incurre reprehension, not onely by disguising it in some part coulourably, but euen by very reporting of it simply. 1586 J. Ferne Blaz. Gentrie ii. 3 So tickle and nyce be the precepts of those writers, that to swarue but one haire from their prescribed rules, hath fordone all thy former worke. 1595 T. P. Goodwine Blanchardyn liv. 223 Seeing the tickle state of his fathers kingdome. a 1618 Raleigh Soul's Errand viii. Tell wit how much it wrangles In tickle points of niceness. 1681 W. Robertson Phraseol. Gen. (1693) 385 A very tickle point or controversie. 1868 E. Waugh Sneck-Bant iv. (E.D.D.), Hoo's nobbut in a tickle state o' health. 1884 Chester Gloss. s.v., Au've getten rayther a tickle job here. 1887 Baring-Gould Red Spider ii, The money-spinner is a tickle (touchy) beast, and may take offence at a godless word. |
b. Delicate in the feelings or senses; fastidious, dainty, squeamish; easily upset or disordered. Now dial.
| c 1456 Pecock Bk. Faith (1909) 212 Whi schulde ȝe thanne be so tikil and squaymose? 1762 T. Bridges Burlesque Homer (1797) II. 96 Juno, whose nose was mighty tickle, Soon smelt their most unsavoury pickle. 1855 Shevvild Chap's Ann. 23 (E.D.D.) Thah's a varry tickle stomach. 1901 F. E. Taylor Folk Speech S. Lanc. (ibid.), He's very tickle abeawt what he ates an' sups. |
c. Difficult to deal with.
| 1570 Levins Manip. 121/46 Tickle, impatiens, intactilis. 1582 Stanyhurst æneis Ded. (Arb.) 7 Virgil..and Ouid..are so tickle in soom places, as they rather craue a construction than a translation. 1887 Baring-Gould Gaverocks xxx, There is a tickle (difficult) bit where I cannot plant a foot. |
d. Of an animal: Easily scared; shy, wild. dial.
| [1737 Gentl. Mag. VII. 114/2 But if I shoot Not out of hand, The bird, which doth So tickle stand, May chance to fly away.] 1877 E. Leigh Chesh. Gloss. 212 Tickle is also applied to game, particularly hares, when wild and ready to move. ‘The snow or frost makes the hares very tickle’. 1877 N.W. Linc. Gloss. s.v., Fish, when they bite very shyly, are said to be ‘strange an' tickle’. 1879 T. Warden Crossford I. 22 The birds were excessively tickle, and persistently got up out of shot. |
† 8. quasi-adv. (in senses 6 and 7): In a tickle or ticklish manner; insecurely, precariously. Obs.
| 1606 Daniel Funeral Poem Poems (1717) 313 And this Important Piece..did then so tickle stand, As that no Jointure of the Government But shook. 1692 R. L'Estrange Josephus, Wars Jews iv. i. (1733) 689 The Houses stand so thick and tickle upon the Steep of the Hill..as if they were ready to drop into the Precipice. 1699 J. Woodward in Phil. Trans. XXI. 224 Corpuscles..absolutely Spherical, must stand so very tickle and nicely upon each other, as to be susceptible of every impression. |
9. Comb. a. in sense ‘easily moved or set in motion’, as † tickle-footed (of a hawk), having an insecure grasp or clutch; † tickle-headed, light-minded, easily influenced; † tickle-heeled, having nimble or active heels; † tickle-tongued, loose of tongue, talkative, garrulous. See also tickle-tail. b. tickle-plough (dial.): see quot. 1875.
| a 1616 Beaum. & Fl. Scornf. Lady v. iv, Lady I would not undertake ye, were you again a haggard, for the best cast of four ladys i' th' kingdom: you were ever *tickle-footed, and would not truss round. |
| 1583 Golding Calvin on Deut. lxxiv. 455 In al ages men haue bin *tickleheaded:..euery man would needs be casting of some peece or collup of his own making, to the things that God had commaunded. |
| 1737 Bracken Farriery Impr. (1757) II. 35 A Horse may..shew abundance of Life and Action, while under a *tickle heel'd Jockey-Boy. |
| 1875 Sussex Gloss., *Tickle-plough, a plough with wooden beam and handles. 1884 W. Sussex Gaz. 25 Sept., Dead stock:..three one-horse dung carts, tickle ploughs..and small harrows. |
| 1577 Stanyhurst Descr. Irel. Ep. Ded., His historie..being..somewhat *tickle toonged,..it twitled more tales out of schoole [etc.]. |
▪ IV. tickle, v.
(ˈtɪk(ə)l)
Forms: 4 tikelle, 4–5 tikl(en, tykel, 4–6 tikel, 4–7 ticle, 5 tykele, tykle, tykyl(l, 5–6 tyckel, 6 tikell, tykell, tickil, tykil, tyckle, tycle, 6–7 tickel, 6– tickle.
[Not recorded in OE., which however had tinclian to tickle. Known first after 1300 in form tikelle, side by side with the adj. tykel, tikel: origin and history doubtful. Falk and Torp take it as a freq. deriv. of tick v.1 to touch lightly, pat. It has also been inferred to be a metathetic form of kittle v.1, parallel to Alemannic dial. zicklen, beside Ger. kitzeln to tickle. See Note below.]
I. Intransitive senses.
† 1. a. To be affected or excited by a pleasantly tingling or thrilling sensation; to be stirred or moved with a thrill of pleasure: said of the heart, lungs, blood, ‘spirits’, etc., also of the person. Obs.
| c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 113 Þe folk ferly mykelle ageyn him [Stephen] þei ros, & Dauid herte gan tikelle, þat him wex fele fos. 1577–87 Holinshed Chron. (1808) IV. 378 How the spirits and livelie bloud tickle in our arteries and small veines, in beholding you the light of this realme. 1589 Pasquil's Ret. 16, I needed no Minstrill to make me merrie, my hart tickled of it selfe. 1591 Spenser Muiopotmos 394 Who..with secrete ioy..Did tickle inwardly in euerie vaine. 1624 Heywood Captives ii. i, I'l..sett my mind downe in so quaint a strayne Shall make her laugh and tickle. a 1625 Fletcher Nice Valour v. i, Oh, how my lungs do tickle! ha, ha, ha! 1647 H. More Poems 172 This pretty sport doth make my heart to tickle With laughter. |
† b. Said of the feeling or its cause. Obs. rare.
| 1579 Tomson Calvin's Serm. Tim. 14/2 For so much as..this curiositie tickleth in many braines. |
2. To tingle; to itch; also fig. to have an uneasy or impatient desire (usually to do something); to be eager. Now rare.
This sense was prob. in literal use much earlier, though quots. have not been found.
| 1542 Udall Erasm. Apoph. 344 The fyngers of the Athenians ticleed to aid and succour Harpalus. 1557 N. T. (Genev.) Acts xvii. 19 note, People whose eares euer tickled to heare newes. 1591 Savile Tacitus' Hist. iv. xliii. 202 The Senatour's fingers euen tickled against him. 1906 N. Munro in Blackw. Mag. Dec. 802/2, I fairly tickle to take a walk along. Mod. My foot tickles. |
II. Transitive senses (= L. titillāre).
3. Said of a thing, or impersonally with it: To excite agreeably (a person, his heart, ears, palate, etc.); to give pleasure or amusement to; to please, gratify. to tickle to death: cf. death n. 12 b. Also in colloq. phr. to tickle pink, to delight; to overcome with pleasure or amusement. Cf. sense 5.
| c 1386 Chaucer Wife's Prol. 471 It tikleth [v.rr. tikeleth, tykelith, ticleþ] me aboute myn herte roote. 1406 Hoccleve Misrule 204 So tikelid me þat nyce reuerence þat it me made larger of despense. 1495 Trevisa's Barth. De P.R. xviii. i. (W. de W.) Y j/1 By gendrynge hete tyklyth and pryckyth: that falleth moost in spryngynge tyme whan the vertue of y⊇ hete of heuen begynnyþ to haue maystry of bodyes of beestys. 1597 J. Payne Royal Exch. 7 More for desire of imitation, then of anie intent to tyckle hym with adulation. 1607 Hieron Wks. I. 166 Well might they..haue their eares ticled with some pleasing noise. 1734 tr. Rollin's Anc. Hist. (1827) I. ii. 210 Eating in Egypt was designed not to tickle the palate but to satisfy the cravings of nature. 1834 C. A. Davis Lett. J. Downing xxv. 188 It has tickled me eny most to death. 1859 Hawthorne Fr. & It. Note-Bks. II. 233 Something..that thrilled and tickled my heart with a feeling partly sensuous and partly spiritual. 1863 Geo. Eliot Romola xxv, Elements that..tickled gossiping curiosity, and fascinated timorous superstition. 1907 St. Nicholas May 607/1 I'm tickled to death to find some one with what they call human emotions. 1922 ‘G. Emery’ in A. H. Quinn Contemporary Amer. Plays 238 He'll be tickled pink. 1939 W. Fortescue There's Rosemary xlvi. 268 Knowing the great artist, he had hopes that my rather cheeky suggestion might ‘tickle him to death’. 1948 F. A. Iremonger William Temple xxiv. 416 An American delegate who sat opposite Temple at the table—‘Archbishop, you tickle me pink!’ 1950 Wodehouse Nothing Serious 29 Your view, then, is that he is tickled pink to be freed from his obligations? 1976 Scottish Daily Express 23 Dec. 8/7 We are tickled pink that we were able to come home to do the concert at Liverpool Philharmonic Hall. 1977 E. Leonard Unknown Man No. 89 xvi. 141 ‘I'm tickled to death I'm talking to you,’ Mr. Perez said..smiling into the telephone. |
4. a. To touch or stroke lightly with or as with the finger-tips, a straw, a feather, a hair, or the like; to tease, annoy, or irritate lightly, so as to cause a peculiar uneasy sensation. Also said of the thing. Also absol.
| c 1450 Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 571/23 Catello, to mewe or to tykele. [Cf. F. chatouiller, OF. catouller to tickle.] c 1532 G. Du Wes Introd. Fr. in Palsgr. 940 To tickel, catouller. 1566 Blundevil Horsemanship iv. lxviii. (1580) 28 b, By eating a feather, or by eating dustie or sharp bearded strawe, and such like things: which tickling his throte causeth him to cough. 1590 Shakes. Mids. N. iv. i. 28 If my haire do but tickle me, I must scratch. 1596 ― 1 Hen. IV, ii. iv. 340 To tickle our Noses with Spear⁓grasse, to make them bleed. 1704 Norris Ideal World ii. iii. 239 Who ever thought of anything like pleasure in a feather that tickles his hand? 1710 J. Clarke Rohault's Nat. Phil. (1729) I. 174 None of them will be able to prick the Tongue agreeably, but they will only tickle it in a disagreeable manner. 1837 Dickens Pickw. xxxvi, First, something tickles your right knee, and then the same sensation irritates your left. |
b. To touch, or poke (a person) lightly in a sensitive part so as to excite spasmodic laughter. Also absol.
| 1530 Palsgr. 349 He tykeleth my sydes, il me catoille les costes. Ibid. 758/1 And you tykell me thus I muste nedes laughe, si vous me gattouillez..il mest force de rire. 1589 Puttenham Eng. Poesie iii. xxii. (Arb.) 266 Her Maiestie laughed as she had bene tickled. 1596 Shakes. Merch. V. iii. i. 68 If you tickle vs, doe we not laugh? 1675 Wycherley Country Wife iv. iii, I am trying if Mr. Horner were ticklish..I love to torment the confounded toad; let you and I tickle him. 1872 Darwin Emotions xiii. 310 We can cause laughing by tickling the skin. |
c. Applied to a method of catching trout or other fish: see quot. 1884 s.v. tickling vbl. n. 3 c. Often in allusive use.
| 1601 Shakes. Twel. N. ii. v. 26 Heere comes the Trowt, that must be caught with tickling. 1706–7 Farquhar Beaux Strat. iii. ii, He..tickles the trout, and so whips it into his basket. 1745 Pococke Descr. East II. ii. v. viii. 252 Men go into the water, tickle them on the belly, and so get them ashoar. 1823 Scott Quentin D. xxx, He spoke of fishing—I have sent him home a trout properly tickled! 1883 G. C. Davies Norfolk Broads xxiii. (1884) 177 The mode of tickling tench which at one time was common enough on some of the Broads. |
5. fig. To excite amusement in; to divert; often in the phrase to tickle the fancy. Also absol.
| a 1688 Villiers (Dk. Buckhm.) Chances Prol., There are Fools that tickle with their Face, Your gay Fool tickles with his Dress and Motions. 1771 Smollett Humph. Cl. 26 June, The young squire, tickled by this ironical observation, exclaimed, ‘O che burla!’ a 1774 Tucker Lt. Nat. (1834) II. 129 Whose play had a quality of striking the joyous perception, or, as we vulgarly say, tickling the fancy. 1837 Lockhart Scott. an. 1816 note, Such..was the story that went the round of the newspapers at the time, and highly tickled Scott's fancy. 1858 Doran Crt. Fools 10 Poor as the joke was, it..tickled the fancy of the Tirynthians. 1871 Blackie Four Phases i. 69 Brilliant oratorical displays to tickle and amuse. 1885 Manch. Exam. 16 May 6/1 Lord Hartington's slow, quiet, dry answer, ‘No, sir’, somewhat tickled the House. |
b. To puzzle: cf. Sc. to kittle. Sc. dial.
| 1865 Tester Poems 47 (E.D.D.) I've got ye out, but it tickles my brain How the deuce I'm to pitch ye in again. |
6. a. To touch (a stringed instrument, etc.) lightly as in tickling a person; to stir (a fire, etc.) slightly; to play or operate (the keys of a keyboard instrument or machine); esp. in phr. to tickle the ivories (ivory 5 d). colloq.
| 1589 Nashe Anat. Absurd. Epist., To tickle a Cittern, or have a sweete stroke on the Lute. 1592 Shakes. Rom. & Jul. i. iv. 36 Let wantons light of heart Tickle the sencelesse rushes with their heeles. 1740 Somerville Hobbinol i. 143 Hark from aloft his tortur'd Cat-gut squeals, He tickles ev'ry String. 1770 Acc. Bks. in Ann. Reg. 243/2 One of them began to tickle his guittar. 1796 Pegge Derbicisms (E.D.S.), Tickle the fire. 18.. in Daily Chron. 10 Dec. (1902) 9/1 A country whose soil, it has been well said, only requires to be tickled with a hoe to laugh with a harvest. 1926 H. Crane Let. 5 Dec. (1965) 278 Tickling the typewriter keys is a stiff proposition. 1930 S. Sassoon Mem. Infantry Officer viii. ii. 194 He now told us that he had discovered a place where we could ‘buy some bubbly and tickle the ivories’. 1940 M. Sadleir Fanny by Gaslight ii. 371 Chunks..shouted to the pianist to tickle the ivories. 1980 Times 1 Oct. 12/6 The 24-year-old virtuoso who tickles the very keys once played by Reginald Dixon. |
b. ironically. To beat, chastise.
| 1592 Warner Alb. Eng. viii. xliii. (1612) 207 Whose Knightes, in 2 Richards dayes, so tickeld France and Spaine. 1601 Shakes. Twel. N. v. i. 198 If he had not beene in drinke, hee would haue tickel'd you other gates then he did. 1681 T. Flatman Heraclitus Ridens No. 35 (1713) I. 225 Our gracious Queen Elizabeth tickled their Tobies for them, for their Reformation. 1698 J. Crull Muscovy 175 They soundly tickle his Back, in the same Manner as we beat the Dust out of Cloaths. 1800 C. K. Sharpe Corr. (1888) I. 94 These little rogues..should be well tickled with the birch. 1861 Sat. Rev. XII. 199 Hogarth tickles the poor bardling with his pencil. |
c. To touch up, trick up; to improve or decorate with light touches.
| 1833 C. Mathews Let. 11 Oct. in A. Mathews Mem. Charles Mathews (1839) IV. x. 208 If you do not tickle up my matter for me after I have put it down, I will not contrive my ‘Life’. 1845 Thackeray Crit. Rev. Wks. 1886 XXIII. 238 The picture is..tickled up with a Chinese minuteness. 1852 ― Let. in Esmond (1900) p. xxxiii, Dolls—painted and tickled up in the most charming way. |
d. (See quot. 1967.)
| 1919 C. P. Thompson Cocktails 257 We had got out to his cycle, and he bent to tickle the carburettor. 1967 D. M. Desoutter Your Bk. of Engines & Turbines viii. 33 Often the float chamber has a little plunger on top, and by pushing it you can sink the float a little and allow petrol to run through into the carburettor. People call this ‘tickling the carburettor’. |
e. Criminals' slang. To rob or burgle. Esp. in phr. to tickle the peter, to rob the till or cash box; also in extended use. Chiefly Austral. and N.Z. Cf. tickle n.2 2.
| 1945, etc. [see Peter n.1 6 b]. 1950 Austral. Police Jrnl. Apr. 119 Tickle the peter, to embezzle or steal funds, usually by the servant of an employer. 1973 Courier-Mail (Brisbane) 14 Mar. 14/9 Senator Georges..was accused in State Parliament last night of having ‘tickled the peter’ when he was 18. 1976 F. Greenland Misericordia Drop i. vi. 44 Get a Portuguese villain to tickle the place. |
f. Cricket. Of a batsman: to deflect (a delivery) with a light stroke or glance. (In quots., with bowler as obj.)
| 1963 Times 5 Mar. 4/1 Dowling, who..is probably New Zealand's finest batsman..today tickled Trueman round the corner. 1977 Sunday Times 3 July 28/6 At last, however, Brearley tickled Doshi away behind the wicket for three. |
† 7. a. To excite, affect, move; also, to vex, irritate, provoke. Obs.
| 1547–64 Bauldwin Mor. Philos. (Palfr.) 116 Some men there be, whom bodily lust tickleth not at all. a 1548 Hall Chron., Edw. IV 204 These newes sodaynly brought to the kynge did not a littell vexe & tykil hym. 1593 Shakes. 2 Hen. VI, i. iii. 153 Shee's tickled now, her Fume needs no spurres. 1693 Dryden Persius' Sat. i. 28, I cannot rule my Spleen; My Scorn Rebels, and tickles me within. 1698 Fryer Acc. E. India & P. 316 What once tickled the Spleen of a Philosopher, might here hourly give him the Diversion. |
† b. To arouse by or as by tickling; to stir up, incite, provoke; to prompt or impel to do something.
| 1532 More Confut. Tindale Wks. 551/1 Y⊇ pronity & mocions in the fleshe..whereby we be ticled towarde great actuall deadely sinnes. 1581 Marbeck Bk. of Notes 603 When our flesh tickeleth vs to speake, we must resist it. a 1592 Greene Alphonsus iii. Wks. (Rtldg.) 237/1 What foolish toy hath tickled you to this? |
c. With up: To stir up, arouse by tickling, excite to action.
| 1567 Drant Horace, Epist. xiii. E iv, Such geare, As will embaite our Cesars eye, and tickle vp his eare. 1583 Babington Commandm. vii. (1637) 67 These things..tickle us up..to the breach of this Commandement. 1642 [Sir J. Spelman] View Observ. H. M. Late Answ. 38 They so tickle up the crasie minds of the multitude. 1674 N. Fairfax Bulk & Selv. 127 If such a spring as this is, may be tickled and rous'd up again. 1898 Daily News 25 Nov. 2/2 Why don't you tickle up Sandys with those spurs? |
d. To get or move (a thing) into or out of some place, position, or state, by action likened to tickling.
| 1677 Gilpin Demonol. (1867) 389 He endeavours..to tickle Him into a humour of affecting the glory and admiration which [etc.]. 1688 R. Holme Armoury iii. 315/1 When the Butcher is to Blood them and tickle them out of their Lives. 1702 Eng. Theophrast. Pref. 2 Others..have endeavoured to tickle men out of their Follies. 1704 F. Fuller Med. Gymn. (1711) 88 This is to Cheat People with the Bellaria of Physick, and Tickle Men into the Grave. 1725 Byrom Let. to R. L. ix, The cunning old Pug..took Puss's two Foots, And so out o' th' Embers he tickl'd his Nuts. 1904 Westm. Gaz. 28 Dec. 2/2 He slipped from the chair, tickled his toes into his slippers, and threw his shoulders back. |
† 8. to tickle it: (?) to bring to an agreeable end; to ensure a satisfactory result. Obs.
| 1599 B. Jonson Cynthia's Rev. iv. v, I am sorry the reuels are crost. I should ha' tickled it soone. 1672 Dryden Assignation iii. i, Now, I think I have tickled it; this discovery has reinstated me into the Empire of my wit again. 1761 Sterne Tr. Shandy III. xx, Bless us!—what noble work we should make!—how should I tickle it off! |
9. In various figurative phrases and expressions, mostly with reference to the pleasing effects of tickling. to tickle in the palm, to gratify with a ‘tip’.
| 1694 Motteux Rabelais v. xiii. (1737) 54 We tickled the Men in the Palm. 1706 E. Ward Wooden World Diss. (1708) 31 The Ale-Wives tickle him in the Gills with the Title of Captain. 1742 Young Nt. Th. viii. 755 'Tis pride, or emptiness, applies the straw That tickles little minds to mirth effuse. 1807–8 W. Irving Salmag. (1824) 224 This straw tickled the noses of all our dignitaries wonderfully. 1843 Carlyle Past & Pr. ii. viii, Tickle me, Toby, and I'll tickle thee! 1874 Siliad iv. 110 But, tickled by a shilling in his palm, [he] Walked on discreetly blind. 1901 Scotsman 4 Mar. 10/5 An officer..when he gets on a palace-car, he can tickle the porter just as much as he desires at the expense of the Government pocket-book. |
10. In combination with a n.; as † tickle-brain, potent liquor; hence transf. one who supplies it; tickle-grass, name given in U.S. to various grasses, as the hair-grass, Agrostis scabra, the old-witch grass, Panicum capillare (Cent. Dict.); tickle-moth, tickle-pitcher (slang): see quots.; tickle-text (slang), a parson; tickle-toby [cf. quot. 1681 in 6 b, also Motteux Rabelais iv. xiii], a birch, rod, switch; also, the use of this; tickle-weed, swamp hellebore, Veratrum viride. See also tickle-tail.
| 1596 Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, ii. iv. 438 Peace good Pint-pot, peace, good *Tickle-braine. 1639 Davenport New Tricke iii. i, A Cup of Nipsitate, briske and neate; The Drawers call it Tickle-Braine. |
| 1833 Veg. Subst. Materials of Manuf. ix. 162 A species of grass growing spontaneously in that part of the United States [Connecticut], and popularly known by the name of *tickle-moth. |
| a 1700 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, *Tickle-pitcher, a Toss-pot, or Pot-companion. 1725 in New Cant. Dict. 1785 Grose Dict. Vulg. T., Tickle pitcher, a thirsty fellow, a sot. |
| Ibid., *Tickle text, a parson. |
| 1830 Bentham Corr. Wks. 1843 XI. 37 A touch, every now and then, of the *tickle-Toby, which I keep in pickle for you. 1842 Thackeray (title) Miss Tickletoby's Lectures. 1909 Daily Chron. 24 July 3/2 Miss Aurora, who, to the peril of her neck, practises tickle-toby on Brother Gustavus's bare soles. |
| 1762 Mills Syst. Pract. Husb. I. 156 Swamp hellebore (known in different places by the several names of skunk-cabbage, *tickle-weed, bear-root). |
Hence tickled (ˈtɪk(ə)ld) ppl. a.
| a 1586 Sidney Arcadia iii. (1605) 343 A smiling countenance,..mixt betweene a tickled mirth, and a forced pittie. 1647 H. More Song Soul ii. App. lxvi, His silvered sound would touch our tickled ear. 1880 G. Meredith Tragic Com. (1881) 11 They encouraged her with the tickled wonder which bids the bold advance yet farther into bogland. 1896 Blackw. Mag. May 769 No corn or tickled up seed could get them [wild-fowl] up the pipes. |
[Note. Derivation from tick v.1, in sense ‘to touch lightly’, would, both in form and sense, suit the later use of tickle, but is not favoured by the chronology (since tick is not known so early as tickle), nor by the fact that the earliest recorded sense includes no notion of light touching or of the action of any external agent, but merely expresses a bodily sensation. These considerations partly also affect the theory of metathesis from kittle, inasmuch as the latter, exc. in the vbl. n. kitelung (a 1100), kitlyng , has not been found before 1440, and is from the first trans., = L. titillare to tickle (some one). But in ON., kitla, like hungra, þyrsta, etc., was an impersonal vb. of primary sensation: mig kitlar ‘it kittles me’, like mig hungrar ‘it hungers me’. Traces of this appear also with ‘tickle’: see ‘it tikleth me’ in sense 3. It was natural for an impers. vb. to develop both intrans. and trans. constructions: cf. the senses of irk v., and the modern it grieves me with I grieve and you grieve me. It seems possible that ONorse kitla was adopted at an early date in some parts of England as kit(e)l-en, kittel-, and in others, under the influence of tick, as tikl-, tikel-, and that the latter became the general Eng. form, while the more original kitl-, kittle, was used farther north, and was thus later in literary record. Neither form appears in Cursor Mundi.]
▪ V. † tickle
(?) dial. form of tittle v.1, to whisper.
| 1575 Gammer Gurton ii. ii, Sig. B iiij, But Tib hath tykled in Gammers eare that you shoulde steal the cock. |