skitter means A skittering movement.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, skitter ranks #1,752 of 40,250 for Qualifying, #8,031 of 17,116 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #8,130 of 17,140 for The Improbable.
skitter is pronounced /ˈskɪtə(ɹ)/.
Why “skitter” is a great word
To move with a light, rapid, and skipping motion, as if bouncing or skimming over a surface. From the verb skite ('to dart or run quickly,' of Scandinavian origin, compare Old Norse skjóta 'to shoot') + the frequentative suffix -er, meaning 'to do repeatedly'; first attested as a verb in 1845. Unlike 'scurry,' which implies frantic, ground-bound purpose, or 'glide,' which suggests smooth, unbroken continuity, to skitter is animated by a jittery, discontinuous energy. It is the frantic scratch of a beetle's legs against porcelain, the startled dance of a water-strider across a pond, or the quick, percussive tap of a leaf in a wind eddy—the small, defiant physics of things that cannot stay still.
Etymology
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.
noun
- A skittering movement.e.g.“A skitter of activity.
A skitter of gooseflesh.”
- Often skitters: the condition of suffering from diarrhea; thin excrement.e.g.“I can't give it my immediate attention, as the cow has the skitter (diarrhoea) and I'm waiting on the Vit (vet).”
verb
- To move hurriedly or as by bouncing or twitching; to scamper, to scurry; to scuttle.e.g.“I opened the cabinet and a number of cockroaches went skittering off into the darkness.”
- To make a scratching or scuttling noise while, or as if, skittering.
- To move or pass (something) over a surface quickly so that it touches only at intervals; to skip, to skite.
- To cause to have diarrhea.
- To suffer from a bout of diarrhea; to produce thin excrement.
Words closest in meaning
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