tickle

Tickle is defined as to please or amuse, or to lightly touch the skin of someone to produce a tingling sensation.

(verb)

  1. An example of tickle is to tell a hysterical joke.
  2. An example of tickle is to lightly rub someone's arm and make him laugh.

The definition of a tickle is a light touching of the skin to cause a tingling sensation of the nerves, or to have an itching or tingling sensation.

(noun)

  1. An example of a tickle is the feeling of the bottom of the foot being tickled.
  2. An example of a tickle is a scratchy throat that causes a cough during a cold.

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See tickle in Webster's New World College Dictionary

transitive verb tickled, tickling

  1. to please, gratify, delight, etc.: often used in the passive voice with slang intensifiers, as , , or
  2. to stir to amusement or laughter; amuse
  3. to excite the surface nerves of, as by touching or stroking lightly with the finger, a feather, etc., in a way that causes involuntary twitching, a pleasant tingling, laughter, etc.

Origin: ME tikelen, akin to Ger dial. zickeln, OE tinclian, to tickle: for IE base see tick

intransitive verb

  1. to have an itching, scratching, or tingling sensation: a throat that tickles
  2. to cause a tickling sensation: that feather tickles
  3. to be readily affected by excitation of the surface nerves; be ticklish

noun

  1. a tickling or being tickled
  2. a tickling sensation

See tickle in American Heritage Dictionary 4

verb tick·led, tick·ling, tick·les
verb, transitive
  1. To touch (the body) lightly so as to cause laughter or twitching movements.
  2. a. To tease or excite pleasurably; titillate: suspense that tickles the reader's curiosity.
    b. To fill with mirth or pleasure; delight. See Synonyms at please.
verb, intransitive
To feel or cause a tingling sensation.
noun
  1. The act of tickling.
  2. A tickling sensation.

Origin:

Origin: Middle English tikelen

Origin: , perhaps frequentative of ticken, to touch lightly

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