tickle

Also found in: Dictionary, Thesaurus, Medical, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia.

Like this video? Subscribe to our free daily email and get a new idiom video every day!

be tickled pink

To be very pleased with someone or something. My family loves my fiancé as much as I do, so they were just tickled pink to hear that we're getting married. Your mother is really tickled pink that you've decided to go to her alma mater.

See also: pink, tickle

be tickled to death

To be very pleased with someone or something, perhaps to the point of giddiness. My family loves my boyfriend as much as I do, so they were just tickled to death to hear that we're getting married. Your mother is really tickled to death that you've decided to go to her alma mater.

See also: death, tickle, to

catch (someone's) fancy

To be appealing or pleasant to someone; to be intriguing or of interest to someone. A: "Do you want to go to a movie later on?" B: "I don't know, there's nothing that really catches my fancy in theaters right now." I'm not going to declare my major until I've had a couple years in college to see what ends up catching my fancy.

slap and tickle

euphemism Mild sexual activity. Primarily heard in UK. My flatmates were having a bit of slap and tickle in the sitting room when I came home last night. It was awkward, to say the least.

take (one's) fancy

To be appealing or pleasant to one; to be intriguing or of interest to one. A: "Do you want to go to a movie later on?" B: "I don't know, there's nothing that really takes my fancy in theaters right now." I'm not going to declare my major until I've had a couple years in college to see what ends up taking my fancy.

tickle (one) pink

To please one greatly. Thank you so much for this. I know that it will tickle Tom pink to get a jersey signed by his favorite quarterback. My family loves my girlfriend almost as much as I do, so it tickled them pink to hear that we're getting married.

See also: pink, tickle

tickle (one) to death

To please one greatly. Thank you so much for this. I know that it will tickle Tom to death to get a jersey signed by his favorite quarterback. My family loves my girlfriend almost as much as I do, so it tickled them to death to hear that we're getting married.

See also: death, tickle, to

tickle (one) to pieces

To please one greatly. Thank you so much for this. I know that it will tickle Tom to pieces to get a jersey signed by his favorite quarterback. My family loves my girlfriend almost as much as I do, so it tickled them all to pieces to hear that we're getting married.

tickle (one's) fancy

To be appealing or pleasant to someone; to be intriguing or of interest to someone. A: "Do you want to go to a movie later on?" B: "I don't know, there's nothing that really tickles my fancy in theaters right now." I'm not going to declare my major until I've had a couple years in college to see what ends up tickling my fancy.

tickle (one's) funny bone

To make one laugh; to be humorous or amusing to one. There's this silly statue on campus that never fails to tickle my funny bone when I walk past it. David has such wit that he can tickle the funny bone of anyone he meets.

tickle (one's) pickle

1. To be appealing or pleasant to someone; to be intriguing or of interest to someone. A: "Do you want to go to a movie later on?" B: "I don't know, there's nothing that really tickles my pickle in theaters right now." I'm not going to declare my major until I've had a couple years in college to see what ends up tickling my pickle.

2. vulgar slang Of a man, to masturbate. Yeah, I still think of my ex-girlfriend when I, you know, tickle my pickle.

3. vulgar slang To masturbate a man. I thought that maybe she'd tickle my pickle, but our date ended right after the movie.

tickle the dragon's tail

To do something risky or dangerous. You know dad has a temper, so why are you antagonizing him? Stop tickling the dragon's tail unless you want to be grounded for weeks! Rob is definitely tickling the dragon's tail with his new interest in skydiving.

tickle the ivory/ivories

To play the piano. An allusion to its white keys, which were formerly made of ivory. My father used to love tickling the ivories after dinner. My friends asked if I would tickle the ivory at their wedding reception.

See also: ivory, tickle

tickled pink

Very pleased with someone or something, perhaps to the point of giddiness. My family loves my fiancé as much as I do, so they were just tickled pink to hear that we're getting married. Your mother is really tickled pink that you've decided to go to her alma mater.

See also: pink, tickle

tickled to death

Very pleased with someone or something, perhaps to the point of giddiness. My family loves my boyfriend as much as I do, so they were just tickled to death to hear that we're getting married. Your mother is really tickled to death that you've decided to go to her alma mater.

See also: death, tickle, to

tickled to pieces

Exceptionally pleased (with or by someone or something). My family loves my girlfriend almost as much as I do, so they were all tickled to pieces to hear that we're getting married. Your mother is really tickled to pieces that you've decided to go to her alma mater.

tickle someone pink

Fig. to please or entertain someone very much. Bill told a joke that really tickled us all pink. I know that these flowers will tickle her pink.

See also: pink, tickle

tickle someone's fancy

to interest someone; to make someone curious. I have an interesting problem here that I think will tickle your fancy. This doesn't tickle my fancy at all. This is dull and boring.

tickle someone to death

1. Fig. to tickle someone a great deal. Bobby nearly tickled Tim to death. Tim was left breathless. We got him down and tickled him to death.

2. and tickle someone to pieces Fig. to please someone a great deal. (See also tickle someone pink.) What you told her just tickled her to death! That story just tickles me to pieces.

See also: death, tickle, to

tickle the ivories

to play the piano. I used to be able to tickle the ivories real nice. She sat down to tickle the ivories for a while.

See also: ivory, tickle

tickled pink

Fig. very much pleased or entertained. I was tickled pink to have you visit us. We were tickled pink when your flowers arrived.

See also: pink, tickle

tickled pink

Also, tickled to death. Delighted, as in I was tickled pink when I got his autograph, or His parents were tickled to death when he decided to marry her. The first term, first recorded in 1922, alludes to one's face turning pink with laughter when one is being tickled. The variant, clearly a hyperbole, dates from about 1800.

See also: pink, tickle

tickle one's fancy

Appeal to one, be to one's liking, as in That joke tickled my fancy. This term uses fancy in the sense of "liking" or "taste." [Second half of 1700s]

tickle the ivories

Play the piano, as in He went on tickling the ivories until three in the morning. This expression alludes to a piano's keys, traditionally made of ivory. [Colloquial; first half of 1900s]

See also: ivory, tickle

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

tickle the ivories

INFORMAL

If someone tickles the ivories, they play the piano. Peter Brown tickles the ivories tonight at the Mercury Lounge alongside bassist Chris Breitner.

See also: ivory, tickle

tickled pink

INFORMAL

If you are tickled pink about something, you are extremely pleased about it. As a developer, I'm tickled pink by the dropping prices. Her dressmaker would just be tickled pink if we put one of her outfits in the magazine. Note: This expression may refer to someone's face becoming pink or redder when they are being tickled.

See also: pink, tickle

Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed. © HarperCollins Publishers 2012

tickle (or tinkle) the ivories

play the piano. informal

The ivories are the white keys of the piano, traditionally made of ivory.

See also: ivory, tickle

slap and tickle

physical amorous play. British informal

be tickled pink (or to death)

be extremely amused or pleased. informal

1992 Guy Vanderhaeghe Things As They Are She made a big show of not being taken in by him, but I could see that all six feet…of her was tickled pink by his attentions.

See also: pink, tickle

catch/take/tickle somebody’s ˈfancy

(informal) please or attract somebody: Mary seems afraid some other girl will catch Alan’s fancy. ♢ She saw that the picture had taken my fancy and insisted on giving it to me as a present.

(a bit of) slap and ˈtickle

(old-fashioned, British English, informal) kissing and cuddling between lovers: We used to do anything to get a bit of slap and tickle when we were young lads.

be tickled ˈpink

(also be tickled to ˈdeath) (old-fashioned, informal) be very pleased or amused: My grandmother will be tickled pink to get an invitation to the wedding. OPPOSITE: (as) sick as a parrot

See also: pink, tickle

tickle the ivories

tv. to play the piano. I used to be able to tickle the ivories real nice.

See also: ivory, tickle

tickled (pink)

mod. amused; utterly delighted; pleased. I am tickled pink you could come this evening.

See also: pink, tickle

tickled

verb

See tickled pink

tickled pink

Informal

Very pleased; delighted: I was tickled pink by the compliment.

See also: pink, tickle

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

tickled pink/to death, to be

To be extremely pleased; to be overcome with amusement or delight. Both versions rest on the fact that tickling causes laughing, an expression of pleasure. The older is to be tickled to death, which dates from about 1800. Paulding used it in his play The Bucktails (1815, 4.2): “Stab me, but do not tickle me to death in sport.” Tickling someone pink means they turn pink with the blush of either pleasure or suppressed laughter. P. G. Wodehouse wrote (Nothing Serious, 1950), “Your view, then, is that he is tickled pink to be freed from his obligations?” Both expressions have largely supplanted to tickle one’s fancy, meaning to divert or please or amuse and in use since the eighteenth century. John Doran had it in The History of Court Fools (1858): “The joke . . . tickled the fancy of the Tirynthians.”