different between mickle vs tickle

English

Etymology

From Middle English mickle, michel, mikel, mochel, muchel, mukel (“much; many; large, tall; great”), from Old English mi?el, my?el (“big, large; great; much”) or Old Norse mikill (“great, tall; much”), both from Proto-Germanic *mikilaz (“great, large; many, much”), from Proto-Indo-European *mé?h?s (“big, great”). The word is cognate with Icelandic mikill (“large in quantity or number; much; great”).

For the adverb and noun forms, compare Middle English muchel (“extensively, greatly, much”, adverb) and Middle English muchel (“large amount”, noun).

The noun sense “a small amount” was due to the proverb many a little makes a mickle being incorrectly rendered as many a mickle makes a muckle, leading to mickle being thought to mean “a small quantity” and muckle to mean “a large quantity”, even though muckle is a variant of mickle and both mean “a large quantity”.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?m?k(?)l/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?m?k?l/
• Rhymes: -?k?l
• Hyphenation: mick?le

Adjective

mickle (comparative more mickle, superlative most mickle)

1. (archaic, now chiefly Scotland and Northern England, especially Northumbria) (Very) great or large.

   Synonym: muckle

Usage notes

The use in Northumbrian is occasional; the word muckle is more common.

Derived terms

Adverb

mickle (comparative more mickle, superlative most mickle)

1. (archaic, now chiefly Scotland) To a great extent.
2. (obsolete) Frequently, often.

Noun

mickle (countable and uncountable, plural mickles)

1. (archaic, chiefly Scotland) A great amount.
2. (archaic, Scotland, originally erroneous) A small amount.
3. (obsolete) Great or important people as a class.
4. (obsolete) Greatness, largeness, stature.

Derived terms

• many a mickle makes a muckle

Determiner

mickle

1. (archaic, now chiefly Scotland and Northern England, especially Northumbria) Much; a great quantity or amount of.
2. (archaic, now chiefly Scotland and Northumbria) Most; the majority of.

Pronoun

mickle

1. (archaic, now chiefly Scotland) A great extent or large amount.

Alternative forms

• meikle
• michel (obsolete)
• muchell (obsolete)

References

Further reading

• mickle in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• John A. Simpson and Edward S. C. Weiner, editors (1989) , “mickle”, in The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, ?ISBN

Anagrams

• Melick, Mickel, melick

Scots

Alternative forms

• mikil, mekil, mukill, muckle

Etymology

From Old English mi?el, my?el.

Adjective

mickle (comparative mair mickle, superlative maist mickle)

1. much, great

Noun

mickle (uncountable)

1. a great amount

English

Etymology

From Middle English tiklen, tikelen, of uncertain origin. Perhaps from a frequentative form of Middle English tikken (“to touch lightly”), thus equivalent to tick +? -le; or perhaps related to Old English tinclian (“to tickle”). Compare North Frisian tigele (“to tickle”) (Hallig dialect), and tiikle (“to tickle”) (Amrum dialect), German dialectal zicklen (“to excite; stir up”). Alternatively, compare Middle English kitlelen ("to tickle"; see kittle), of which tickle might ultimately be a metathetic alteration.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?t?kl?/
• Rhymes: -?k?l
• Hyphenation: tick?le

Noun

tickle (plural tickles)

1. The act of tickling.
2. An itchy feeling resembling the result of tickling.

   I have a persistent tickle in my throat.

3. (cricket, informal) A light tap of the ball.
4. (Newfoundland) A narrow strait.
   • 2004, Richard Fortey, The Earth, Folio Society 2011, p. 169:

     Cow Head itself is a prominent headland connected to the settlement by a natural causeway, or ‘tickle’ as the Newfoundlanders prefer it.

Translations

Verb

tickle (third-person singular simple present tickles, present participle tickling, simple past and past participle tickled)

1. (transitive) To touch repeatedly or stroke delicately in a manner which causes laughter, pleasure and twitching.

   He tickled Nancy's tummy, and she started to giggle.
2. (transitive) To unexpectedly touch or stroke delicately in a manner which causes displeasure or withdrawal.

   A stranger tickled Nancy's tummy, causing her to scream in fear.

3. (intransitive, of a body part) To feel as if the body part in question is being tickled.

   My nose tickles, and I'm going to sneeze!

4. (transitive) To appeal to someone's taste, curiosity etc.
5. (transitive) To cause delight or amusement in.

   He was tickled to receive such a wonderful gift.
6. (intransitive) To feel titillation.

   • He with secret joy therefore / Did tickle inwardly in every vein.

7. (transitive) To catch fish in the hand (usually in rivers or smaller streams) by manually stimulating the fins.
8. (archaic) To be excited or heartened.

Quotations

• For quotations using this term, see Citations:tickle.

Synonyms

• kittle

Derived terms

Translations

Adjective

tickle (comparative more tickle, superlative most tickle)

1. (obsolete) Changeable, capricious; insecure.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.4:

     So ticle be the termes of mortall state, / And full of subtile sophismes, which do play / With double senses, and with false debate […]

Anagrams

• Keltic