tingle

See also: Tingle

English

Etymology

From Middle English tinglen, a variant of tinclen (“to tinkle”). More at tinkle.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtɪŋɡəl/

  • Audio (UK)

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• Rhymes: -ɪŋɡəl

Verb

tingle (third-person singular simple present tingles, present participle tingling, simple past and past participle tingled)

1. (intransitive) To feel a prickling or mildly stinging sensation.

   My hands were tingling from the cold.

   I got hit in the butt yesterday, and it still tingles.

   • 1913, Eleanor H. Porter, chapter 8, in Pollyanna‎^[1], L.C. Page, →OCLC:

     For five minutes Pollyanna worked swiftly, deftly, combing a refractory curl into fluffiness, perking up a drooping ruffle at the neck, or shaking a pillow into plumpness so that the head might have a better pose. Meanwhile the sick woman, frowning prodigiously, and openly scoffing at the whole procedure, was, in spite of herself, beginning to tingle with a feeling perilously near to excitement.

2. (transitive) To cause to feel a prickling or mildly stinging sensation.

   Tingle your tastebuds with these exotic dishes.

3. (intransitive) To ring, to tinkle.
4. (transitive) To cause to ring, to tinkle.
   • 1876, Lewis Carroll, The Hunting of the Snark […] , London: Macmillan, Fit the Second.⁠ The Bellman's Speech:

     […] the Captain they trusted so well
     Had only one notion for crossing the ocean,
     And that was to tingle his bell.

5. (intransitive) To make ringing sounds; to twang.
   • 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “chapter 13”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC:

     Sideways leaning, we sideways darted; every ropeyarn tingling like a wire; the two tall masts buckling like Indian canes in land tornadoes.

   • 1859-1895, Charles Dickens, All the Year Round

     sharp tingling bells

Synonyms

• (to feel a prickly sensation): itch
• (to ring, cause to ring): tinkle

Derived terms

• tingly

Translations

to have a prickling or mildly stinging sensation

• Bulgarian: щипя (bg) (štipja), изтръпвам (bg) (iztrǎpvam)
• Dutch: tintelen (nl), kriebelen (nl)
• Esperanto: pikpiki
• Finnish: pistellä (fi), kihelmöidä, nipistellä (fi)
• French: picoter (fr)
• German: kribbeln (de), prickeln (de)
• Italian: formicolare (it)
• Latvian: tirpt
• Maori: tītī (of the ears), ongaonga (referring to the ears), nanamu (of taste and of the skin), tengatenga (of the funny bone)
• Occitan: picalhar, formiguejar
• Polish: mrowić
• Portuguese: formigar
• Russian: испы́тывать (ru) (ispýtyvatʹ) покалывание (ru) n (pokalyvanije)

to cause to feel a prickling or mildly stinging sensation

• Finnish: pistellä (fi), nipistellä (fi); kutkuttaa (fi) (esp. tastebuds)

intransitive: to ring

• Bulgarian: звънтя (bg) (zvǎntja)
• Finnish: kilahtaa (fi) (once or shortly); kilahdella (fi) (shortly and repeatedly); kilistä (fi) (longer); kilistellä (fi) (longer and repeatedly)

transitive: to cause to ring

• Finnish: kilauttaa (fi) (once or shortly); kilautella (shortly and repeatedly); kilistää (fi) (longer); kilistellä (fi) (longer and repeatedly)

intransitive: to make ringing sounds — See also translations at twang

• Dutch: rinkelen (nl), tinkelen (nl)
• Finnish: soida (fi) (e.g. tight ropes, wires)
• Maori: tī (mi), tītī (in the ears), wheo, wheowheo

Noun

tingle (plural tingles)

1. A prickling or mildly stinging sensation.

Translations

prickling sensation

• Bulgarian: изтръпване n (iztrǎpvane), бодеж (bg) m (bodež)
• Esperanto: pikpiko
• Finnish: kihelmöinti (fi), pistely (fi)
• French: picotement (fr) m
• German: Prickeln n
• Ilocano: pipikel
• Italian: solletico (it) m
• Latgalian: tierpūni
• Latvian: notirpums m, tirpoņa f, tirpšana f
• Polish: dzwonienie (pl), mrowienie, swędzenie (pl)
• Russian: пока́лывание (ru) n (pokályvanije)

Anagrams

• Etling, elting, linget, niglet