adj. and adv. (old and venery).—1. Wanton. Also as verb = (a) to grope; to FIRKY-TOODLE (q.v.); (b) to FRIG (q.v.); and (c) to copulate. Hence TICKLE-TAIL = (a) a wanton and (b) the penis: also TICKLER, TICKLE-THOMAS (= female privity), TICKLE-PIECE, TICKLE-GIZZARD, TICKLE-FAGGOT and TICKLE-TOBY; TAIL-TICKLING = (1) copulation; (2) masturbation; TICKLE O’ THE SERE = fond of bawdy laughter (HALLIWELL).
1363. LANGLAND, Piers Plowman, 1619.
| For hue is TYKEL of hure tail · talewys of tonge, | |
| As commune as þe cart-wey. |
[?]. Coventry Mysteries, 134.
| Of hire tayle oftetyme be lyght, | |
| And rygh TEKYL undyr the too. |
1593. GREENE, Gwydonius [HALLIWELL]. Yet if she were so TICKLE, as ye would take no stand, so ramage as she would be reclaimed with no lure.
1598. FLORIO, A Worlde of Wordes, s.v. Fricciare … to frig, to wriggle, to TICKLE.
1602. SHAKESPEARE, Hamlet, ii. 2. 336. The clown shall make those laugh whose lungs are TICKLE O’ THE SERE. Ibid. (1602), Troilus and Cressida, v. 2. 57. Ther. How the devil luxury, with his fat rump, and potatoe finger, TICKLES these together! Fry, lechery, fry!
1610. JONSON, The Alchemist, v. 2.
| Sub. … My bird o’ the night! we’ll TICKLE it at the Pigeons, | |
| When we have all…. [They kiss]. |
1612. CHAPMAN, The Widow’s Tears, ii. 1. Tha. Hast thou been admitted then? Ars. Admitted! ay, into her heart…. I have set her heart upon as TICKLISH a pin as the needle of a dial, that will never let it rest till it be in the right position.
1620. H. HOWARD, Defensative against the Poison of Supposed Prophecies [DOUCE, ii. 238]. Moods and humours of the vulgar sort … loose and TICKLE OF THE SEARE.
1652. SHIRLEY, The Brothers, ii. 1.
| But these wives, sir, are such TICKLE | |
| Things, not one hardly staid amongst a thousand. |
1653. URQUHART, Rabelais, i. xi. He had already begun to exercise the tools…. One of them would call it her pillicock, her fiddle-diddle, her staff of love, her TICKLE-GIZZARD.
1656. R. FLETCHER, Martiall, xi. 30. Thus Phillis rub me up, thus TICKLE mee.
1672. COTTON, Scarronides, or, Virgil Travestie, 60.
| To Puss and to good company; | |
| And he that will not pledge me fairly, | |
| And name the words as I do barely: | |
| I do pronounce him to be no man, | |
| And may he never TICKLE woman. |
1694. MOTTEUX, Rabelais, v. xlv.
| For, now I hope | |
| To see some brawny, juicy rump, | |
| Well TICKLED with my carnal stump. |
c. 1709. WARD, Terræ Filius, ii. 11. A TICKLE TAIL Match between a Vigorous Whore-Master and a Desirous Young Damsel.
1730. Broadside Song, ‘Gee ho, Dobin’ [FARMER, Merry Songs and Ballads (1897), ii. 203]. I rumpl’d her Feathers, and TICKL’D her scutt.
1809. MALKIN, Gil Blas [ROUTLEDGE], 113. I know how to TICKLE a girl in a stiff gown, or an actress.
2. See TICKLISH.
Verb. (colloquial).—To chastise: frequently (as in TO TICKLE ONE’S TAIL) a humorous threat of punishment. Hence TICKLETAIL (TICKLETOBY, or TICKLER) = (a) a schoolmaster’s rod; (b) a schoolmaster; (c) a whip or strap; (d) a small weapon carried on the person: a knife or pistol.
1598. SHAKESPEARE, 2 Henry IV., ii. 1. Fal. Away, you scullion! you rampallian! you fustilarian! I’ll TICKLE YOUR CATASTROPHE. Ibid. (1602), Twelfth Night, v. 1. 196. If he had not been in drink, he would have TICKLED you othergates than he did.
c. 1600. The Merry Devil of Edmonton, ii. 1. A plague of this wind, O it TICKLES OUR CATASTROPHE. Ibid., Ile TICKLE HIS CATASTROPHE for this.
1607. DEKKER, Westward Ho! v. 3. If we find ’em to be malefactors, we’ll TICKLE ’em.
1837. R. H. BARHAM, The Ingoldsby Legends, ‘The Ingoldsby Penance.’
| Come falchion in hand, I’ll TICKLE the best | |
| Of all the Soldan’s Chivalrie! |
1861. DICKENS, Great Expectations, i. TICKLER was a wax-ended piece of cane, worn smooth by collision with my TICKLED frame.
2. (common).—To bribe; to fee: also TO TICKLE ONE’S PALM (or HAND).
1874. BEETON, The Siliad, 110.
| Brought by the din … to run him in; | |
| But, TICKLED by a shilling in his palm, | |
| Walked on discreetly blind, and sternly calm. |
