tickle

Inflections of 'tickle' (v): (⇒ conjugate)

tick•le v., -led, -ling, n.
v.

to stroke lightly with the fingers, with a feather, etc., so as to cause a tingling or itching sensation in:[~ + object]To wake him up she would tickle his nose with a feather.
to have or be affected with such a sensation:[no object]The hairs on his face tickled.
to poke some sensitive part of the body so as to cause laughter:[~ + object]He'd tickle the kids right before bedtime and get them giggling and out of breath.
to cause an agreeable feeling of excitement in:[~ + object]to tickle someone's fancy.
to amuse or delight:[~ + object]The clown's antics tickled the kids.

Idioms

Idioms tickled pink or tickled to death, greatly pleased:We're tickled pink that you could attend.

tick•le v., -led, -ling, n.
v.t.

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.

v.i.

to be affected with a tingling or itching sensation, as from light touches or strokes:I tickle all over.
to produce such a sensation.
tickled pink, [Informal.]greatly pleased:She was tickled pink that someone had remembered her birthday.

Middle English tikelen, frequentative of tick¹ (in obsolete sense) to touch lightly 1300–50

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

tickle /ˈtɪk^əl/ vb

to touch, stroke, or poke (a person, part of the body, etc) so as to produce pleasure, laughter, or a twitching sensation
(transitive) to excite pleasurably; gratify
(transitive) to delight or entertain (often in the phrase tickle one's fancy)
(intransitive) to itch or tingle
(transitive) to catch (a fish, esp a trout) by grasping it with the hands and gently moving the fingers into its gills
tickle pink, tickle to death ⇒ informal to please greatly

Etymology: 14th Century: related to Old English tinclian, Old High German kizziton, Old Norse kitla, Latin titillāre to titillate

'tickle' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):

Collocations: have a tickle in my throat, gave her [chin, tummy] a tickle, just wanted a [tummy] tickle, more...

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