| 释义 |
ticklish, a.|ˈtɪklɪʃ|
[f. tickle a. or v. + -ish1.]
1. Easily tickled; sensitive to tickling.
1598Florio, Solético, ticklish. 1615Crooke Body of Man 72 Some part of the skin is..thin, as in the sides and soales of the feete, which is the reason that there men are ticklish. 1685Boyle Effects of Mot. v. 53 A ticklish man, by having the pulp of one's finger passed gently along the sole of his foot,..has divers muscles and other parts of his body and face put into..unusual motions. 1833Marryat P. Simple xix, As for not standing the charge of bayonets, it was not because they were less brave, but the fact was, that they were most excessively ticklish. 1899Allbutt's Syst. Med. VIII. 128 A peculiar mental affection, locally known as Latah (a word signifying nervous or ticklish).
†b. Sensitive, easily affected; of a horse: Sensitive to touch; tender. Obs.
1681Lond. Gaz. No. 1589/4 She drags her hinder feet,..cuts a little behind, she is very ticklish on her Crest. 1684R. Waller Nat. Exper. 6 After this manner may be had a very ticklish Thermometer. 1716Lond. Gaz. No. 5415/4 [A mare] with a Malender on her near Fore Leg, and very ticklish to be touch'd on that Place.
2. Unstably balanced or poised; easily unbalanced or upset; unsteady; of a boat: easily capsized.
1601Holland Pliny (1634) II. 584 The follie of the blind & bold people of Rome went beyond al; who trusted such a ticklish frame, & durst sit there, in a seat so moueable. 1639Fuller Holy War iii. v. (1840) 123 So ticklish are the scales of victory, a very mote will turn them. 1687A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. i. 27 Little slight Boats or Wherries, and so tick'lish that by leaning more to one side than another, it is an easie matter to overset them. 1784Cowper Task iii. 550 The ticklish balance of suspense. 1861P. B. Du Chaillu Equat. Afr. xiv. 234 They are ticklish craft.
b. Of game: Difficult to approach; shy: = tickle a. 6 c.
1826P. Hawker Diary (1893) I. 290 He got four wigeon, but found the birds very ticklish. 1829Ibid. 359 Birds all scattered and ticklish.
3. fig. Easily upset in temper; apt to be offended, sensitive, touchy.
1581Mulcaster Positions xxxvii. (1887) 152 Such parentes as be tikelish, and such scholers as be shifting, removing from maisters and renouncing of obedience. 1634T. Johnson Parey's Wks. 1173 There is not any man so ticklish, which taketh not in good part what I have said. 1794Gouv. Morris in Sparks Life & Writ. (1832) II. 426 Men are very ticklish in such revolutions as the present. 1821Byron Let. to Moore 16 Nov., You are ticklish on such points.
4. Unstable, unsteady, unsettled, uncertain, fickle.
1606in Gardiner Hist. Eng. I. 408 note, Considering..how ticklish their disposition is towards the State. a1661Fuller Worthies (1840) III. 265 But foreign friendship is ticklish, temporary, and lasteth no longer than it is advantaged with mutual interest. 1693South Serm. 99 Uncertain ticklish and variable. 1770–4A. Hunter Georg. Ess. (1803) III. 514 Resisting the effects of bad weather in ticklish hay seasons. 1847Ld. Palmerston Let. 5 Feb. in Bulwer Life (1874) III. 337 A throne whose stability rests on the point of the bayonet has a very ticklish and uncertain basis.
5. Liable to end in disaster unless treated with great care; needing cautious handling or action; delicate, critical, precarious, risky, hazardous.
1591Savile Tacitus' Hist. i. lxxxv. 48 To beare a man's selfe euenly in so nice and ticklish a case. 1600Holland Livy iii. lxv. 133 So ticklish and dangerous a thing it is to keepe a meane in maintenance of libertie. 1666W. Boghurst Loimographia (1894) 81 This is a very ticklish disease, and the least error committed turnes a man out of dores. 1674N. Fairfax Bulk & Selv. To Rdr., 'Tis a more ticklish thing to pen a Preface, than 'tis to write a Book. 1711Swift Lett. (1767) III. 195 'Tis a plaguy ticklish piece of work, and a man hazards losing both sides. 1775J. Jekyll Corr. 30 May, Her rash, which perhaps was a critical symptom in her ticklish constitution. 1809Malkin Gil Blas xii. i. (Rtldg.) 423 A very ticklish predicament. 1899F. T. Bullen Log Sea-waif 27 This is a ticklish evolution to perform successfully in a crowded anchorage.
6. quasi-adv. Ticklishly; in a ticklish or easily moved state; unsteadily; delicately. Now rare.
1661R. Baillie in Lauderdale Papers (Camden) I. 95, I think you stand tiklish. 1771Luckombe Hist. Print. 318 The upper sides of these Ribs must..be somewhat arching..then the Cramp-Irons run more easily and ticklish over them. 1775T. Hutchinson Diary 24 Oct., Mr. Gibbon..says the Minister who proposed them stands ticklish.
7. Comb., as ticklish-tempered.
1897M. Kingsley W. Africa 651 Ticklish-tempered native gentlemen. |