itch

itch [ich] ExamplesWord Origin See more synonyms for itch on Thesaurus.com verb (used without object)

1. to have or feel a peculiar tingling or uneasy irritation of the skin that causes a desire to scratch the part affected: My nose itches.
2. to cause such a feeling: This shirt itches.
3. Informal. to scratch a part that itches.
4. to have a desire to do or get something: to itch after fame.

verb (used with object)

5. to cause to have an itch: His wool shirt always itches him.
6. Informal. to scratch (a part that itches): to itch a mosquito bite.
7. to annoy; vex; irritate: Her remarks itched me.

noun

8. the sensation of itching.
9. an uneasy or restless desire or longing: an itch for excitement.
10. a contagious disease caused by the itch mite, which burrows into the skin (usually preceded by the).

Compare mange, scabies. Origin of itch before 900; (v.) Middle English (y)icchen, Old English gicc(e)an; akin to German jucken, Dutch jeuken; (noun) Middle English (y)icche, Old English gicce, derivative of the v.Related formsan·ti-itch, adjective Related Words for itch yearning, impulse, craving, hankering, ache, yearn, crave, thirst, hanker, crawling, tickle, rawness, irritation, creeping, psoriasis, prickling, itchiness, eroticism, urge, restlessness Examples from the Web for itch Contemporary Examples of itch

“You try to always scratch where the itch is,” Huckabee said about his campaigning and rhetoric in the 2008 primary.

Why This Liberal Hearts Huckabee

Sally Kohn

January 6, 2015

That seems to be the modus operandi as The League moves closer to the seven-year itch.

The MVPs of Sleaze Are Back: FXX’s ‘The League’ Ups the Degenerate Ante

Emily Shire

September 4, 2014

Inside the itch, extreme weather—both flooding and drought—seem to be intensifying.

Sudan Drought Breeds Violence

Eliza Griswold

July 3, 2011

They will always have the itch to be going, whether the going is good or not.

Is Travel Writing Dead?

Malcolm Jones

June 5, 2011

LIBRA Your palms may itch, signaling a cash infusion is on the horizon.

Horoscopes for June 5-11, 2011

Starsky + Cox

June 4, 2011

Historical Examples of itch

Wit, lad, is a catching thing, like the itch or the sweating sickness.

The White Company

Arthur Conan Doyle

But he did not shoot, though one could see how his fingers must itch for the feel of the trigger.

Good Indian

B. M. Bower

I always had an itch for newspaper work, and I went on a New York paper.

The Gentleman From Indiana

Booth Tarkington

There was nothing under heaven their fingers did not itch to change.

The Harbor

Ernest Poole

This is the safest and best application for the itch, and will have no disagreeable smell, if made in the following manner.

The Cook and Housekeeper’s Complete and Universal Dictionary; Including a System of Modern Cookery, in all Its Various Branches,

Mary Eaton

British Dictionary definitions for itch itch noun

1. an irritation or tickling sensation of the skin causing a desire to scratch
2. a restless desire
3. any skin disorder, such as scabies, characterized by intense itching

verb

4. (intr) to feel or produce an irritating or tickling sensation
5. (intr) to have a restless desire (to do something)
6. not standard to scratch (the skin)
7. itching palm a grasping nature; avarice
8. have itchy feet to be restless; have a desire to travel

Derived Formsitchy, adjectiveitchiness, nounWord Origin for itch Old English gīccean to itch, of Germanic origin Word Origin and History for itch n.

Old English gicce, from giccan (v.) “to itch” (see itch (v.)). Sense of “restless desire” is first attested 1530s; itching in this sense is from mid-14c.

v.

Old English giccan “to itch,” from West Germanic *jukkjan (cf. Middle Dutch jöken “to itch,” Old High German jucchen, German jucken). Related: Itched; itching.

itch in Medicine itch [ĭch] n.

1. An irritating skin sensation causing a desire to scratch.
2. Any of various skin disorders, such as scabies, marked by intense irritation and itching.

v.

1. To feel, have, or produce an itch.