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kittle

[kit-l]British Dialect
verb (used with object), kit·tled, kit·tling.
  1. to tickle with the fingers; agitate or stir, as with a spoon.
  2. to excite or rouse (a person), especially by flattery or strong words.
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adjective, kit·tler, kit·tlest.
  1. ticklish; fidgety.
  2. requiring skill or caution; precarious.
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Origin of kittle

1475–85; earlier kytylle, ketil (compare Middle English kitellinge (gerund), late Old English kitelung); cognate with Middle High German kützeln; akin to Old Norse kitla, German kitzeln to tickle
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for kittle

Historical Examples

  • He's green when you put him in the kittle, and when you take him out, he's red.

    The Woman-Haters

    Joseph C. Lincoln

  • I always said his honour would get into trouble with a kittle girl like that.

    Kilgorman

    Talbot Baines Reed

  • And says he, 'This beats the Kittle Creek babtizin' all to pieces.'

    Aunt Jane of Kentucky

    Eliza Calvert Hall

  • Kittle, in the phrase "kittle cattle," is identical with tickle; cf. Ger.

  • "Eh, but women are kittle cattle to drive," said poor Dick ruefully.

    A Simpleton

    Charles Reade

British Dictionary definitions for kittle

kittle

adjective
  1. capricious and unpredictable
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verb
  1. to be troublesome or puzzling to (someone)
  2. to tickle
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Word Origin

C16: probably from Old Norse kitla to tickle
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012