kittle

[ kit-l ]

/ ˈkɪt l /

British Dialect

verb (used with object), kit·tled, kit·tling.

to tickle with the fingers; agitate or stir, as with a spoon.

to excite or rouse (a person), especially by flattery or strong words.

adjective, kit·tler, kit·tlest.

ticklish; fidgety.

requiring skill or caution; precarious.

Nearby words

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. 2019

Examples from the Web for kittle

Now, when it's hotter than a kittle of pepper tea, the bulk of their stock is ice picks and mittens.
The Woman-Haters|Joseph C. Lincoln
Another editor assured me, with a weary sigh, that authors were 'kittle cattle.'
Atlantic Classics|Various
The heid an' the spine are kittle to get hurt, but it's a guid's blessin' ye werena burnt beyond recognition.
Betty Grier|Joseph Waugh
You can walk along the stone fence and pick the high ones and we'll fill the kittle in no time.
A Little Girl in Old New York|Amanda Millie Douglas

"August is a kittle time for transplanting border things," I hear you say.
The Garden, You, and I|Mabel Osgood Wright

British Dictionary definitions for kittle

kittle

/ (ˈkɪtəl) Scot /

adjective

capricious and unpredictable

verb

to be troublesome or puzzling to (someone)

to tickle

Word Origin for kittle

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