different between squirrelly vs skittish
squirrelly
English
Alternative forms
- squirrely
Etymology
squirrel +? -ly, 1925. Presumably from erratic movement of squirrels, or by analogy with nuts (“insane”).
Pronunciation
- (General American) IPA(key): /?skw?li/
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /?skw???li/
- Rhymes: -??(?)li, -???li
Adjective
squirrelly (comparative squirrellier or more squirrelly, superlative squirrelliest or most squirrelly)
- resembling a squirrel
- unpredictable or jumpy
- eccentric
See also
- batty
- nuts
- nutty
- See also Thesaurus:insane
References
- OED 2nd edition 1989
squirrelly From the web:
- squirrelly meaning
- what is squirrelly bread
- what does squirrelly definition
- what does squirrelly
- what do squirrely mean
- what does squirrely behavior mean
- what does squirrelly refer to
- what does squirrelly mean slang
skittish
English
Etymology
Probably from skite (“to move lightly and hurriedly; to move suddenly, particularly in an oblique direction (Scotland, Northern England)”) +? -ish; compare skitter.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /?sk?t??/
- (T-flapping) IPA(key): [?sk????]
- Hyphenation: skit?tish
Adjective
skittish (comparative more skittish, superlative most skittish)
- Easily scared or startled; timid.
- The cat likes people he knows, but he is skittish around strangers.
- 1557, Roger Edgeworth, Sermons Very Fruitfull, Godly, and Learned, London: Robert Caly, The fiftenth treatice or Sermon,[1]
- All such be like a skittish starting horse, whiche coming ouer a bridge, wil start for a shadowe, or for a stone lying by him, and leapeth ouer on the other side into the water, & drowneth both horse and man.
- Wanton; changeable; fickle
- c. 1601, William Shakespeare, Troilus and Cressida, Act III, Scene 3,[2]
- How some men creep in skittish fortune’s hall,
- Whiles others play the idiots in her eyes!
- 1785, William Cowper, The Task, London: J. Johnson, Book 2, p. 69,[3]
- […] ’Tis pitiful
- To court a grin, when you should wooe a soul;
- To break a jest, when pity would inspire
- Pathetic exhortation; and t’ address
- The skittish fancy with facetious tales,
- When sent with God’s commission to the heart.
- c. 1601, William Shakespeare, Troilus and Cressida, Act III, Scene 3,[2]
- Difficult to manage; tricky.
- 1872, George Eliot, Middlemarch, Book 2, Chapter 15,[4]
- For everybody’s family doctor was remarkably clever, and was understood to have immeasurable skill in the management and training of the most skittish or vicious diseases.
- 1872, George Eliot, Middlemarch, Book 2, Chapter 15,[4]
Synonyms
- (easily scared or startled): spookish, jumpy, skittery, skitterish, squirrelly
Derived terms
- skittishly
- skittishness
Translations
See also
- startle
skittish From the web:
- what skittish means
- skittish what does it means
- what does skittish dog mean
- what does skittish mean
- what does skittish
- what does skittish cat mean
- what do skittish mean
- what is skittish behaviour
Share
Tweet
+1
Share
Pin
Like
Send
Share
you may also like
- squirrelly vs skittish
- polythene vs polypropylene
- polythene vs spring
- nylon vs polythene
- polymer vs polythene
- polyyne vs polyene
- polyene vs polytene
- polyene vs polygene
- polyene vs polymethine
- polyene vs polyenyl
- polyene vs polyenone
- polyene vs hachimycin
- polyene vs perimycin
- polyene vs hamycin
- polyene vs polyolefin
- polytony vs polytone
- polytone vs polytope
- polytone vs polytene
- ambiguous vs polysemic
- polysemic vs polysemia