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Skitter

//ˈskɪtɚ// noun, verb

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A skittering movement. also, figuratively

    "A skitter of activity. A skitter of gooseflesh."

  2. 2
    Often skitters: the condition of suffering from diarrhea; thin excrement. Northern-England, Scotland, uncountable

    "I can't give it my immediate attention, as the cow has the skitter (diarrhoea) and I'm waiting on the Vit (vet)."

Verb
  1. 1
    To move hurriedly or as by bouncing or twitching; to scamper, to scurry; to scuttle. intransitive

    "I opened the cabinet and a number of cockroaches went skittering off into the darkness."

  2. 2
    To cause to have diarrhea. Northern-England, Scotland, transitive

    ""[…] I'd like you to give the calves two heaped tablespoonfuls [of Epsom salts] three times a day." / "Oh 'ell, you'll skitter the poor buggers to death!" / "Maybe so, but there's nothing else for it," I said."

  3. 3
    twitch the hook of a fishing line through or along the surface of water wordnet
  4. 4
    To make a scratching or scuttling noise while, or as if, skittering. intransitive

    "Both "Dark Snow" and "Aurelia" [by AFI] feature subtle washes of brittle piano à la Decemberunderground, while "She Speaks The Language" boasts a skittering electronic underbelly, and eerie synths are suspended like low clouds in "Above The Bridge.""

  5. 5
    To suffer from a bout of diarrhea; to produce thin excrement. Northern-England, Scotland, intransitive

    "As a symptomatic phenomenon, Diarrhœa is skittering, i.e., the discharges are composed of water, intermingled with particles of imperfectly digested food; from two to six or eight discharges may thus take place, and it is an invariable precursor of constipation."

Show 4 more definitions
  1. 6
    cause to skip over a surface wordnet
  2. 7
    To move or pass (something) over a surface quickly so that it touches only at intervals; to skip, to skite. transitive

    ""Skittering," continued the Professor, "is practiced with a strong line about the length of the rod, to which is affixed a small trolling-spoon, a minnow, or a piece of pork-rind cut in the rude semblance of a small fish. The boat is poled along, as in ‘bobbing,’ but farther out in the stream, when the angler, standing in the bow, ‘skitters’ or skips the spoon or bait over the surface just at the edge of the weeds."

  3. 8
    glide easily along a surface wordnet
  4. 9
    to move about or proceed hurriedly wordnet

Etymology

Etymology 1

Possibly a frequentative of skite (“to move lightly and hurriedly; to move suddenly, particularly in an oblique direction”) (Scotland, Northern England). The noun is derived from the verb.

Etymology 2

Possibly a frequentative of skite (“to move lightly and hurriedly; to move suddenly, particularly in an oblique direction”) (Scotland, Northern England). The noun is derived from the verb.

Etymology 3

From skite (“to defecate”) + -er (frequentative suffix). The noun is derived from the verb.

Etymology 4

From skite (“to defecate”) + -er (frequentative suffix). The noun is derived from the verb.

See also for "skitter"

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