• IPA: /ˈtɪkl̩/

tickle (plural tickles)

1. The act of tickling.
2. An itchy feeling resembling the result of tickling.

   I have a persistent tickle in my throat.

3. (cricket, informal) A light tap of the ball.
4. (Newfoundland) A narrow strait.
   • 2004, Richard Fortey, The Earth, Folio Society 2011, p. 169:

     Cow Head itself is a prominent headland connected to the settlement by a natural causeway, or ‘tickle’ as the Newfoundlanders prefer it.

• Russian: щеко́тка

tickle (tickles, present participle tickling; past and past participle tickled)

1. (transitive) To touch repeatedly or stroke delicately in a manner which causes laughter, pleasure and twitching.

   He tickled Nancy's tummy, and she started to giggle.

   • c. 1596–1598, William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act III, scene i]:

     If you tickle us, do we not laugh?

2. (transitive) To unexpectedly touch or stroke delicately in a manner which causes displeasure or withdrawal.

   A stranger tickled Nancy's tummy, causing her to scream in fear.

3. (intransitive, of a body part) To feel as if the body part in question is being tickled.

   My nose tickles, and I'm going to sneeze!

4. (transitive) To appeal to someone's taste, curiosity etc.
5. (transitive) To cause delight or amusement in.

   He was tickled to receive such a wonderful gift.

   • c. 1608–1609, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act I, scene i]:

     Such a nature / Tickled with good success, disdains the shadow / Which he treads on at noon.

6. (intransitive) To feel titillation.

   • He with secret joy therefore / Did tickle inwardly in every vein.

7. (transitive) To catch fish in the hand (usually in rivers or smaller streams) by manually stimulating the fins [often illegal]
8. (archaic) To be excited or heartened.

• kittle

• French: chatouiller
• German: kitzeln
• Italian: solleticare, titillare
• Portuguese: fazer cócegas, titilar
• Russian: щекота́ть
• Spanish: hacer cosquillas, cosquillear

tickle

1. Changeable, capricious; insecure.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.4:

     So ticle be the termes of mortall state, / And full of subtile sophismes, which do play / With double senses, and with false debate [...].

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