itchy

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English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

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”).

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): /ˈɪt͡ʃi/
  • Audio (Southern England)(file)
  • Rhymes: -ɪtʃi

Adjective[edit]

itchy (comparative itchier, superlative itchiest)

  1. Characterized by itching. (of a condition)
    Synonym: pruritic
    an itchy rash
  2. Feeling an itching sensation; feeling a need to be scratched. (of a person, animal or body part)
    My nose always gets itchy the moment I put on my face mask.
    • 1659, Lyon Freeman, The Common-wealths Catechism‎[3], London: John Clowes, pages 15–16:
      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.
    • 1869, John Tyndall, “Odds and Ends of Alpine Life”, in Littel’s Living Age‎[4], Series 4, Vol. 13, No. 1303, p. 471:
      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.
    • 2009, Tash Aw, chapter 34, in Map of the Invisible World‎[5], New York: Spiegel & Grau, published 2010, page 314:
      […] the hot, dusty air swept in through the open windows and made Adam’s eyes itchy and teary.
  3. Causing an itching sensation.
    Synonym: scratchy
    He refuses to wear the new sweater; he says it’s itchy.
    • 1922, Sinclair Lewis, chapter 1, in Babbitt, New York, N.Y.: Harcourt, Brace and Company, →OCLC, page 4:
      the itchy sound, the brisk and scratchy sound, of combing hairs out of a stiff brush
    • 1958, Truman Capote, Breakfast at Tiffany’s‎[6], Penguin, published 1961, page 9:
      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.
    • 1973, Maria Campbell, chapter 5, in Halfbreed,‎[7], Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, page 44:
      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.
  4. (figurative) In a state of agitation; easily alarmed.
    Synonyms: anxious, jittery, jumpy, nervous, on edge
    • 1939, John Steinbeck, chapter 26, in The Grapes of Wrath‎[8], New York: Viking, published 1958, page 526:
      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,[9]
      […] I got itchy wondering whether I could go inside Complex without being nabbed.
    • 1988, Edmund White, chapter 4, in The Beautiful Room Is Empty‎[10], London: Pan Books, page 87:
      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 […]
    • 2003, Siri Hustvedt, What I Loved‎[11], London: Hodder & Stoughton, Part 1, p. 89:
      Chasing after the stories about those girls in the ward made me itchy and restless.
  5. (figurative) Having a constant, teasing desire (for something, to do something); impatiently eager.
    Synonym: itching
    • 1876, Robert Browning, Pacchiarotto, and How He Worked in Distemper, Boston: James R. Osgood, published 1877, page 17:
      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
    • 1939, Raymond Chandler, chapter 7, in Trouble Is My Business‎[12], Philadelphia: Curtis Publishing:
      “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 […] ”
    • 1982, Anne Tyler, chapter 10, in Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant‎[13], New York: Knopf, published 1989, page 282:
      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.
    • 2014, Ana Castillo, Give It to Me‎[14], New York: Feminist Press, Part 1, Chapter 14, p. 60:
      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.
  6. (figurative) Causing a constant, teasing desire for something.
    • 1923, Samuel Hopkins Adams, chapter 12, in Flaming Youth‎[15], New York: Boni and Liveright, page 129:
      They are curious with the itchy curiosity of their explorative time of life, and they have no proper guidance.
    • 1951, William Styron, chapter 6, in Lie Down in Darkness‎[16], Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, pages 309–310:
      A bachelor at sixty-eight and an uneasy drinker, Holcomb was seized with an itchy, reminiscent lust whenever he drank too much […]
    • 2016, Joe Okonkwo, chapter 41, in Jazz Moon, New York: Kensington:
      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.
  7. (figurative, derogatory, obsolete) Feeling or showing a high level of sexual interest.[1]
    Synonyms: lascivious, lecherous, lustful

Derived terms[edit]

Translations[edit]

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

References[edit]

  1. ^ Josua Poole, The English Parnassus, London: Thomas Johnson, 1657, p. 223.[1]

Anagrams[edit]

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