/ˈɪt͡ʃi/
OriginFrom 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”).
- Characterized by itching. (of a condition)
“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.”
- 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.”
“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 co”
“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.”
- Causing an itching sensation.
“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.”
- figurativelyIn a state of agitation; easily alarmed.
“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 witho”
“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”
- figurativelyHaving a constant, teasing desire (for something, to do something); impatiently eager.
“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.”
- figurativelyCausing a constant, teasing desire for something.
“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.”
Formsitchier(comparative) · itchiest(superlative)