Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Kittle
Kit′tle
(kĭt′t’l)
, Verb.
I.
[Cf.
Kit
a kitten.] (Zool.)
To bring forth young, as a cat; to kitten; to litter.
[Prov. Eng. & Scot.]
Kit′tle
,Verb.
T.
[Cf. AS.
citelian
; akin to D. kittelen
, G. kitzeln
, Icel. kitla
, Sw. kittla
, kittsla
, Dan. kildre
. Cf. Tickle
.] To tickle.
[Prov. Eng. & Scot.]
[Written also
kittel
.] Halliwell.
Jamieson.
Kit′tle
,Adj.
Ticklish; not easily managed; troublesome; difficult; variable.
[Prov. Eng. & Scot.]
Halliwell.
Sir W. Scott.
Webster 1828 Edition
Kittle
KIT'TLE
,Verb.
T.
Definition 2024
kittle
kittle
English
Alternative forms
- kittel
Verb
kittle (third-person singular simple present kittles, present participle kittling, simple past and past participle kittled)
- (transitive, Scotland and Northern England) To tickle, to touch lightly.
Adjective
kittle (comparative kittler, superlative kittlest)
- (Scotland and Northern England) Ticklish.
- (Scotland and Northern England) Not easily managed; troublesome; difficult; variable.
Etymology 2
From Middle English kitelen, from Norwegian kjetla (“to bring forth young”), equivalent to kit + -le.
Verb
kittle (third-person singular simple present kittles, present participle kittling, simple past and past participle kittled)
- (intransitive, Scotland and Northern England) To bring forth young, as a cat; to kitten; to litter.
References
- kittle in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
- Northumberland Words, English Dialect Society, R. Oliver Heslop, 1893–4
- A List of words and phrases in everyday use by the natives of Hetton-le-Hole in the County of Durham, F.M.T.Palgrave, English Dialect Society vol.74, 1896,
- Todd's Geordie Words and Phrases, George Todd, Newcastle, 1977