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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.
To tickle. [Not used.]

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)

  1. (transitive, Scotland and Northern England) To tickle, to touch lightly.

Adjective

kittle (comparative kittler, superlative kittlest)

  1. (Scotland and Northern England) Ticklish.
  2. (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)

  1. (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