FreeScrabbleDictionary

tickle

Valid in Scrabble

Scrabble points
12
Words With Friends
14
Letters
6
Pronunciation
/ˈtɪkl̩/

Definition of tickle

14 senses · 5 parts of speech · etymology included

noun

  1. The act of tickling.
See all 14 definitions

noun

  1. The act of tickling.
  2. An itchy feeling resembling the result of tickling.
    “I have a persistent tickle in my throat.”
  3. (informal)A light tap of the ball.
    “There's a very fine line between a tickle and an edge!”
  4. (Newfoundland)A narrow strait, such as between an island and the shore.
    “Charts and Plans. [...] No. New Charts. 2253 England, and south coast—Dartmouth harbour. [...] 3320 Newfoundland, Thimble tickles and Glover harbour—Head of Seal bay.”
    “Cow Head itself is a prominent headland connected to the settlement by a natural causeway, or ‘tickle’ as the Newfoundlanders prefer it.”

verb

  1. (transitive)To touch repeatedly or stroke delicately in a manner which typically causes laughter, pleasure and twitching.
    “He tickled Nancy's tummy, and she started to giggle.”
    “If you tickle us, do we not laugh?”
  2. (intransitive)To feel as if the body part in question is being tickled.
    “My nose tickles, and I'm going to sneeze!”
  3. (transitive)To appeal to someone's taste, curiosity etc.
  4. (transitive)To cause delight or amusement in.
    “He was tickled to receive such a wonderful gift.”
    “Behold the child, by Nature's kindly law, Pleas'd with a rattle, tickled with a straw.”
    “Such a nature Tickled with good success, disdains the shadow Which he treads on at noon.”
  5. (intransitive)To feel titillation.
    “He with secret joy therefore Did tickle inwardly in every vein.”
  6. (transitive)To catch fish in the hand (usually in rivers or smaller streams) by manually stimulating the fins.
  7. (archaic)To be excited or heartened.

adj

  1. (obsolete)Changeable, capricious; insecure.
    “So ticle be the termes of mortall state, And full of subtile sophismes, which do play With double senses, and with false debate […]”

adv

  1. Insecurely, precariously, unstably.
    “Lucio. I warrant it is: And thy head stands so tickle on thy shoulders, that a milke-maid, if she be in loue, may sigh it off: Send after the Duke, and appeale to him.”

name

  1. A habitational surname from Old English.

Definitions from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA.

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…

See full 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.

Anagrams of tickle

2 plays · some not in Scrabble

Words you can make from tickle

39 playable · top: LICK (10 pts)

Best play lick 10 points

5-letter words

1 word

4-letter words

14 words

3-letter words

16 words

2-letter words

7 words

Hooks

4 extensions · 1 front · 3 back

A single letter you can add to tickle to make another valid word.

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