Emily Dickinson Lexicon

TICK'LE, a.

Tottering; wavering, or liable to waver and fall at the slightest touch; unstable; easily overthrown. Thy head stands so tickle on thy shoulders, that a milkmaid, if in love, may sigh it off. Shak. The state of Normandy / Stands on a tickle point. Shak. [This word is wholly obsolete, at least in New England. Ticklish is the word used.]

TICK'LE, v.i.

To feel titillation. He with secret joy therefore / Did tickle inwardly in every vein. Spenser.

TICK'LE, v.t. [dim. of touch; perhaps directly from tick, to pat, or it is the L. titillo, corrupted.]

1. To touch lightly and cause a peculiar thrilling sensation, which can not be described. A slight sensation of this kind may give pleasure, but when violent it is insufferable.
2. To please by slight gratification. A glass of wine may tickle the palate. Such a nature / Tickled with good success. Shak.

TICK'LE-NESS, n.

Unsteadiness. [Not in use.] Chaucer.

TICK'LER, n.

One that tickles or pleases.

TICK'LING, n.

The act of affecting with titillation.

TICK'LING, ppr.

Affecting with titillation.

TICK'LISH, a.

1. Sensible to slight touches; easily tickled. The bottom of the foot is very ticklish, as are the sides. The palm of the hand, hardened by use, is not ticklish.
2. Tottering; standing so as to be liable to totter and fall at the slightest touch; unfixed; easily moved or affected. Ireland was a ticklish and unsettled state. Bacon.
3. Difficult; nice; critical; as, these are ticklish times. Swift.

TICK'LISH-LY, adv.

In a ticklish manner.

TICK'LISH-NESS, n.

1. The state or quality of being ticklish or very sensible.
2. The state of being tottering or liable to fall.
3. Criticalness of condition or state.

TICK-SEED, n.

A plant of the genus Coreopsis, and another of the genus Corispermum. Lee.

TICK'TACK, n.

A game at tables. Bailey.

TID, a. [Sax. tydder.]

Tender; soft; nice.

TID-AL, a.

Pertaining to tides; periodical rising and falling or flowing and ebbing; as, tidal waters. Modern English.

TID'BIT, n. [tid and bit.]

A delicate or tender piece of any thing eatable.

TID'DLE, or TID'DER, v.t.

To use with tenderness; to fondle.

TID'DLED, pp.

Fondled.

TIDE, n. [Sax. tidan, to happen; tid, time, season, opportunity, an hour; G. zeit; D. tyd; Sw. and Dan. tid. This word is from a root that signifies to come, to happen, or to fall or rush, as in betide; corresponding in sense with time, season, hour, opportunity. Tid, time, is the fall, the occasion, the event. Its original meaning is entirely obsolete, except in composition, as in Shrovetide, Whitsuntide.]

1. Time, season. Which, at the appointed tide, / Each one did make his bride. Spenser. [This sense is obsolete.]
2. The flow of the water in the ocean and seas, twice in a little more than twenty-four hours; the flux and reflux, or ebb and flow. We commonly distinguish the flow or rising of the water by the name of flood-tide, and the reflux by that of ebb-tide. There is much less tide or rise of water in the main ocean, at a distance from land, than there is at the shore, and in sounds and bays.
3. Stream; course; current; as, the tide of the times. Time's ungentle tide. Byron.
4. Favorable course. There is a tide in the aiming of men, / Which taken at the flood, leads on to fortune. Shak.
5. Violent confluence. [Not in use.] Bacon.
6. Among miners, the period of twelve hours. Cyc.
7. Current; flow of blood. And life's red tide runs ebbing from the wound. Battle of Frogs and Mice.

TIDE, v.i.

To work in or out of a river or harbor by favor of the tide, and anchor when it becomes adverse. Mar. Dict.

TIDE, v.t.

To drive with the stream. Dryden.

TIDE-GATE, n.

1. A grate through which water passes into a basin when the tide flows, and which is shut to retain the water from flowing back at the ebb.
2. Among seamen, a place where the tide runs with great velocity. Mar. Dict.

TIDE-GUAGE, n.

A contrivance for registering the state of the tide continuously at every instant of time. Brande.

TIDE-LESS, a.

Having no tide.

TIDE-MILL, n. [tide and mill.]

A mill that is moved by tide water; also, a mill for clearing lands from tide water.

TIDES-MAN, n.

An officer who remains on board of a merchant's ship till the goods are landed, to prevent the evasion of the duties.