kittle
Americanverb (used with object)
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to tickle with the fingers; agitate or stir, as with a spoon.
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to excite or rouse (a person), especially by flattery or strong words.
adjective
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ticklish; fidgety.
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requiring skill or caution; precarious.
adjective
verb
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to be troublesome or puzzling to (someone)
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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”
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
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
I still got our old copper kittle an she's 30 gallons if she's a spoon-full.
From Time Magazine Archive
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 Stevenson, Robert Louis
Shorty," said the Deacon, "take this revolver and watch that kittle while I wash Si's face, and git him ready for his breakfast.
From Si Klegg, Book 4 (of 6) Experiences Of Si And Shorty On The Great Tullahoma Campaign by McElroy, John
There was a'ways a big kittle a hangin in th' chimbly an' one o' them iron ovens a settin on the hawth.
From Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States From Interviews with Former Slaves: Volume X, Missouri Narratives by United States. Work Projects Administration
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 Terry, Richard Runciman
Bell: What have you heard this fifteen-year, except The bleat of sheep, till Ruth’s voice kittled your ear?
From Krindlesyke by Gibson, Wilfrid Wilson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
