kittle

American  

[kit-l] / ˈkɪt l /

verb (used with object)

kittled, kittling

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

kittler, kittlest

1. ticklish; fidgety.

2. requiring skill or caution; precarious.

kittle British  

/ ˈkɪtəl /

adjective

1. capricious and unpredictable

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verb

1. to be troublesome or puzzling to (someone)

2. to tickle

Etymology

Origin of kittle

First recorded in 1475–85; earlier kytylle, ketil (compare Middle English verbal noun kitilling, kitlinge “tickling” late Old English citelung, kitelung ); cognate with Middle High German kützeln; akin to Old Norse kitla, German kitzeln “to tickle”

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

kittle kittled

I still got our old copper kittle an she's 30 gallons if she's a spoon-full.

From Time Magazine Archive

Somethin caught his interest an he turned round and afore you could say jackrobinson he backed up and sot right down in the kittle.

From Time Magazine Archive

But it’s a kittle thing to decide what folk’ll bear, and what they will not.

From The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition Vol. 10 (of 25) by Robert Louis Stevenson

Keeping the lad’ll be a fashious35 job, a fashious, kittle business.”

From The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition Vol. 10 (of 25) by Robert Louis Stevenson

Pretty soon he woke up the third time, and says he: 'Well, if here ain't that old kittle again!

From The Land of Long Ago by Eliza Calvert Hall

Pronounced to rhyme with "shall" only the vowel must be very much prolonged. kittled = tickled. myek = make. gairdle cake = girdle cake, i.e. a cake baked on a griddle.

From The Shanty Book, Part I, Sailor Shanties by Richard Runciman Terry

Bell: What have you heard this fifteen-year, except The bleat of sheep, till Ruth’s voice kittled your ear?

From Krindlesyke by Wilfrid Wilson Gibson

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