Wishing Everyone a Tickled-Pink New Year!
From Chaucer ….
c1386 CHAUCER Wife’s Prol. 471 It tikleth [v.rr. tikeleth, tykelith, ticle me aboute myn herte roote. 1406 HOCCLEVE Misrule 204 So tikelid me at nyce reuerence at it me made larger of despense.1495 Trevisa’s Barth. De P.R. XVIII. i. (W. de W.) Yj/1 By gendrynge hete tyklyth and pryckyth: that falleth moost in spryngynge tyme whan the vertue of ye hete of heuen begynny to haue maystry of bodyes of beestys. 1597 J. PAYNE Royal Exch. 7 More for desire of imitation, then of anie intent to tyckle hym with adulation. 1607 HIERON Wks. I. 166 Well might they..haue their eares ticled with some pleasing noise. 1734 tr. Rollin’s Anc. Hist. (1827) I. II. 210 Eating in Egypt was designed not to tickle the palate but to satisfy the cravings of nature. 1834 C. A. DAVIS Lett. J. Downing xxv. 188 It has tickled me eny most to death. 1859 HAWTHORNE Fr. & It. Note-Bks. II. 233 Something..that thrilled and tickled my heart with a feeling partly sensuous and partly spiritual. 1863 GEO. ELIOTRomola xxv, Elements that..tickled gossiping curiosity, and fascinated timorous superstition. 1907 St. Nicholas May 607/1 I’m tickled to death to find some one with what they call human emotions.1922 ‘G. EMERY’ in A. H. Quinn Contemporary Amer. Plays 238 He’ll be tickled pink. 1939 W. FORTESCUE There’s Rosemary xlvi. 268 Knowing the great artist, he had hopes that my rather cheeky suggestion might ‘tickle him to death’. 1948 F. A. IREMONGER William Temple xxiv. 416 An American delegate who sat opposite Temple at the table ‘Archbishop, you tickle me pink!’ 1950WODEHOUSE Nothing Serious 29 Your view, then, is that he is tickled pink to be freed from his obligations? 1976 Scottish Daily Express 23 Dec. 8/7 We are tickled pink that we were able to come home to do the concert at Liverpool Philharmonic Hall. 1977 E. LEONARD Unknown Man No. 89 xvi. 141 ‘I’m tickled to death I’m talking to you,’ Mr. Perez said..smiling into the telephone.
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