[tick.le] vb tick.led ; tick.ling [ME tikelen; akin to OE tinclian to tickle] vt (14c) 1 a: to excite or stir up agreeably: please "music ... does more than ~ our sense of rhythm --Edward Sapir" b: to provoke to laughter or merriment: amuse "were tickled by the clown's antics"
2: to touch (as a body part) lightly so as to excite the surface nerves and cause uneasiness, laughter, or spasmodic movements ~ vi 1: to have a tingling or prickling sensation "my back ~s"
2: to excite the surface nerves to prickle
[2]tickle n (1801) 1: the act of tickling
2: a tickling sensation
3: something that tickles