tickle
- to touch or stroke lightly with the fingers, a feather, etc., so as to excite a tingling or itching sensation in; titillate.
- to poke some sensitive part of the body so as to excite spasmodic laughter.
- to excite agreeably; gratify: to tickle someone's vanity.
- to excite amusement in: The clown's antics really tickled the kids.
- to get, move, etc., by or as by tickling: She tickled him into saying yes.
- to be affected with a tingling or itching sensation, as from light touches or strokes: I tickle all over.
- to produce such a sensation.
- an act or instance of tickling.
- a tickling sensation.
- tickled pink, Informal. greatly pleased: She was tickled pink that someone had remembered her birthday.
Origin of tickle
Synonyms
See more synonyms for tickle on Thesaurus.comtickle
- to touch, stroke, or poke (a person, part of the body, etc) so as to produce pleasure, laughter, or a twitching sensation
- (tr) to excite pleasurably; gratify
- (tr) to delight or entertain (often in the phrase tickle one's fancy)
- (intr) to itch or tingle
- (tr) to catch (a fish, esp a trout) by grasping it with the hands and gently moving the fingers into its gills
- tickle pink or tickle to death informal to please greatlyhe was tickled pink to be elected president
- a sensation of light stroking or itching
- the act of tickling
- Canadian (in the Atlantic Provinces) a narrow strait
Word Origin
Word Origin and History for tickled pink
tickle
v.
early 14c. (intransitive) "to be thrilled or tingling," of uncertain origin, possibly a frequentative form of tick (2) in its older sense of "to touch." The Old English form was tinclian. Some suggest a metathesis of kittle (Middle English kytyllen), from Dutch kietelen, from a common North Sea Germanic word for "to tickle" (cf. Old Norse kitla, Old High German kizzilon, German kitzeln).
Meaning "to excite agreeably" (late 14c.) is a translation of Latin titillare. Meaning "to touch lightly so as to cause a peculiar and uneasy sensation" is recorded from late 14c.; that of "to poke or touch so as to excite laughter" is from early 15c.; figurative sense of "to excite, amuse" is attested from 1680s. Related: Tickled; tickling. The noun is recorded from 1801.
Idioms and Phrases with tickled pink
tickled pink
Also, tickled to death. Delighted, as in I was tickled pink when I got his autograph, or His parents were tickled to death when he decided to marry her. The first term, first recorded in 1922, alludes to one's face turning pink with laughter when one is being tickled. The variant, clearly a hyperbole, dates from about 1800.