tingle

• IPA^(key): /ˈtɪŋɡəl/

• Audio (Southern England)

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• Rhymes: -ɪŋɡəl

From Middle English tinglen, a variant of tinclen (“to tinkle”). More at tinkle.

tingle (third-person singular simple present tingles, present participle tingling, simple past and past participle tingled)

1. (intransitive) To feel a prickling or mildly stinging sensation.

   My hands were tingling from the cold.

   I got hit in the butt yesterday, and it still tingles.

   • 1913, Eleanor H. Porter, chapter 8, in Pollyanna‎, L.C. Page, →OCLC:

     For five minutes Pollyanna worked swiftly, deftly, combing a refractory curl into fluffiness, perking up a drooping ruffle at the neck, or shaking a pillow into plumpness so that the head might have a better pose. Meanwhile the sick woman, frowning prodigiously, and openly scoffing at the whole procedure, was, in spite of herself, beginning to tingle with a feeling perilously near to excitement.

2. (transitive) To cause to feel a prickling or mildly stinging sensation.

   Tingle your tastebuds with these exotic dishes.

3. (intransitive) To ring; to tinkle or twang.
   • 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “chapter 13”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC:

     Sideways leaning, we sideways darted; every ropeyarn tingling like a wire; the two tall masts buckling like Indian canes in land tornadoes.

   • 1859-1895, Charles Dickens, All the Year Round

     sharp tingling bells

   • 1991, Michael L. Frankel, Sabra Crossing: An Ecological Adventure in the North Atlantic:

     The wind-chime tingling of halyards slapping against masts, the constant creaking of wooden boats, the gurgling of water passing under the hull.

   • 2010, Joseph J. Mazzella, Walking the Path of Love, page 223:

     They delighfully ring to greet the rising sun and still tingle during the darkest night.

     ·
   • 2021, Benita Glickman, Then and Now: Snapshots of My Life:

     At that precise moment, after a week of silence, the solar chime forcefully tingled, loudly and clearly, again and again.

4. (transitive) To cause to ring, to tinkle.
   • 1874, Charles C. Duek, The abbey chimes, page 76:

     Jackson, the butler, older of course, and altered he can see at a glance, opens the door almost before his hand is off the bell he has only gently tingled.

   • 1876, Lewis Carroll, The Hunting of the Snark […] , London: Macmillan, Fit the Second.⁠ The Bellman's Speech:

     […] the Captain they trusted so well
     Had only one notion for crossing the ocean,
     And that was to tingle his bell.

• (to feel a prickly sensation): itch
• (to ring, cause to ring): tinkle

tingle (plural tingles)

1. A prickling or mildly stinging sensation; frisson.
2. A tingling sound; a chime or tinkle.
   • 2010, Joseph J. Mazzella, Walking the Path of Love, page 223:

     Their every chime, ring, and tingle sings with joy and makes wonderful music as they dance with the swirling winds of nature.

   • 2014, Ally Blake, Marriage Make-Over:

     The tingle of a wind chime drifted to her on the ocean breeze.

   • 2017, Laurence Brahm, Searching for Shangri-La, page 52:

     The tingle of bells is crisp, cutting the Tibetan air with a clarity that feels like blue porcelain cracking against the endless chime of bells.

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.) cognate with the Middle High German zingel

tingle (plural tingles)

1. A nail of the very smallest size; a tack.
   • 1887, “The Exhibition and the Exhibits”, in The Monthly Chronicle of North-Country Lore and Legend, page 91:

     From the diminutive "tingle" or baby tack up to the massive ship spike, almost every kind of nail is shown, not only in iron and steel, but also in copper, zinc, and brass,, and on the partition will be noticed a somewhat novel application of nails.

   • 1910, Samuel Barlow Bennett, A Manual of Technical Plumbing and Sanitary Science, page 206:

     Figs. 16, 17, 18 show method of forming a double welt, notice the copper tack or tingle to same as further security.

   • 2016, A Classic Guide to Making and Repairing Vintage Shoes and Boots:

     Tingle the middle down by placing a tingle at the toe, and a couple at the joints.

2. A patch that covers a hole in something that needs to be watertight, such as a roof or a boat.
   • 1956, World Fishing - Volume 5, page 54:

     If damage is localised then you may easily tingle it over and a perfectly good sound job may be made with a tingle. Metal tingles are not ; they require a lot of fastenings and even then are not easily made really watertight.

   • 1980 July-December, John Pazereskis, “Wood Boat Seam Repairs”, in Cruising World, page 48:

     With tin snips, cut the tingle to shape (some people bend the edges over to form a 1/4-inch hem), and lather it with polysulfide seam compound.

   • 1984, David Derrick, Boat Maintenance, page 35:

     The appearance of this basically unattractive repair can be marginally improved by making the tingle larger than is structurally necessary and then give it long chamfers to fair it in.

   • 1992, Derek Bradford, Key Porter Books, Mike Lawrence, The Complete Home Renovation Manual, page 54:

     Nail the tingle to the sheathing between the two slates below the one being fixed .

   • 2000, Carole A. Morris, Craft, Industry and Everyday Life, page 2380:

     A thin chamfered tingle (A) was fitted to the outboard face of the largest board and a thicker example (B) to the inboard face.

   • 2006, A Seaman's Pocket-Book: June 1943, page 81:

     The tools, tingle, and copper nails may be contained in a smaller bag called the carpenter's bag. A piece of felt or fearnought is included, to be placed over a hole under the tingle.

   • 2015, Frank Bennett, Alfred Pinion, Roof Slating and Tiling, page 131:

     The three inner slates of the patch are fixed with two nails and only the top slate, whose nail holes are completely covered by other slates, need be fixed with a tingle.

3. (masonry) An attachment in the middle of a long guide line to keep it from sagging.
   • 1915 February, “British Method of Laying Bricks”, in Building Age, volume 37, page 68:

     The tingle is fastened on the top of the brick by a small pat of mortar, on which is placed a piece of brick to keep the tingle firm.

   • 1983, W. G. Nash, Brickwork - Volume 1, page 76:

     a tingle is used to prevent the line from sagging in the middle if it is being used on a long wall

   • 2013, Michael Hammett, Brickwork and Paving: For House and Garden:

     To prevent a long line sagging, it can be given intermediate support with a tingle plate.

tingle (third-person singular simple present tingles, present participle tingling, simple past and past participle tingled)

1. To fasten with a tingle; to tack.
   • 2016, A Classic Guide to Making and Repairing Vintage Shoes and Boots:

     Tingle the middle down by placing a tingle at the toe, and a couple at the joints.

2. To patch with a tingle; to cover a hole in something that needs to be watertight.
   • 1956, World Fishing - Volume 5, page 54:

     If damage is localised then you may easily tingle it over and a perfectly good sound job may be made with a tingle.

   • 2018, Denys Arthur Rayner, The Long Fight:

     To put her on the other tack while we tingle a started butt would lose us twenty-four hours at least, maybe more.

3. (masonry) To secure the middle of a guide line by means of a tingle.
   • 1915 February, “British Method of Laying Bricks”, in Building Age, volume 37, page 68:

     If there is much length of line it will require tingling up to keep it from sagging. To tingle a line it is best to have a plumbing place at that point were the tingle is to be fixed so as to ensure the work beging kept true.

• elting, Etling, Elting, niglet, linget