itchy
Part of speech: adj
Morphological type: derivation
Etymology: From Middle English *yicchy, *ȝicchi, from Old English ġiċċiġ (“itchy”), equivalent to itch + -y. Cognate with Scots yeukie (“itchy”), West Frisian jokkerich (“itchy”), Dutch jeukachtig and jeukerig (“itchy”).
Base: itch
Affixes: -y
Inflected forms:
form: itchier
pos: adj
tags: comparative
form: itchiest
pos: adj
tags: superlative
Senses:
gloss: Characterized by itching. (of a condition)
pos: adj
examples: an itchy rash
Excess, the scrophulous and itchy plague / That seizes first the opulent
Her heart kicked and an itchy burning in her throat made her swallow all her saliva away.
gloss: Feeling an itching sensation; feeling a need to be scratched. (of a person, animal or body part)
pos: adj
examples: My nose always gets itchy the moment I put on my face mask.
Q. What do you mean by a natural, but sickly delight?
A. I mean such a delight as Itchie people have to scratch, green-sickness Garles to eat coles and chalk, and those in a burning Fever, to drink cold drink.
I heard the trumpet of its famous mosquito, but did not feel its attacks; still the itchy hillocks on my hands for some days afterwards reported the venom of the insect.
[…] the hot, dusty air swept in through the open windows and made Adam’s eyes itchy and teary.
gloss: Causing an itching sensation.
pos: adj
examples: He refuses to wear the new sweater; he says it’s itchy.
the itchy sound, the brisk and scratchy sound, of combing hairs out of a stiff brush
It was one room crowded with attic furniture, a sofa and fat chairs upholstered in that itchy, particular red velvet that one associates with hot days on a train.
I remember only the ugly black stockings, woolly and very itchy, and the little red tam I had to wear and how much I hated it.
gloss: In a state of agitation; easily alarmed.
pos: adj
tags: figuratively
examples: Casy said softly, “All of ’em’s itchy. Them cops been sayin’ how they’re gonna beat the hell outa us an’ run us outa the county. […]”
1966, Robert A. Heinlein, The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress, Chapter 16, in Worlds of If, Volume 16, No. 1, Issue 98, January, 1966, p. 77,
[…] I got itchy wondering whether I could go inside Complex without being nabbed.
At first I’d feel lonely, afraid, itchy, very afraid to go on with my story, afraid it wasn’t any good, afraid it was terrific and I was about to spoil it, afraid it was better than I understood and I would never know how to equal it again […]
Chasing after the stories about those girls in the ward made me itchy and restless.
gloss: Having a constant, teasing desire (for something, to do something); impatiently eager.
pos: adj
tags: figuratively
examples: Who simply stares and listens / Tongue-tied, while eye nor glistens / Nor brow grows hot and twitchy, / Nor mouth, for a combat itchy, / Quivers with some convincing / Reply
“So I went over to see Miss Huntress and after a lot of finagling around with this itchy-handed house dick I got to see her and we had a chat […]”
By now, Pearl would have been out the door and halfway down the steps, reaching for the three of them with those eager, itchy fingers of hers.
She’d forgotten about the box […]. Not until Palma was home did she start getting itchy to open it before Christmas, but in the end she put it away unopened.
gloss: Causing a constant, teasing desire for something.
pos: adj
tags: figuratively
examples: They are curious with the itchy curiosity of their explorative time of life, and they have no proper guidance.
A bachelor at sixty-eight and an uneasy drinker, Holcomb was seized with an itchy, reminiscent lust whenever he drank too much […]
With peace gone he was left with plain old boredom, and not the clean kind. But the itchy, restless kind that begged to be filled.
gloss: Feeling or showing a high level of sexual interest.
pos: adj
tags: derogatory
figuratively
obsolete
examples: Car[dochia]. That slave in obscene language courted me, / Drew reals out, and would have bought my body, / Diego, from thee. / Die[go]. Is he so itchy? I'll cure him.
what’s all the delight, / That seemes so pleasing to the itchie whorer?
Derived words: itchies
itchily
itchiness
itchy feet
itchy palm
itchy trigger finger
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