itchy

Etymology

itch + -y

adj

1. (of a condition) Characterized by itching.
   an itchy rash
   Her heart kicked and an itchy burning in her throat made her swallow all her saliva away. 1987, Toni Morrison, Beloved, New York: Knopf, Part 3, p. 243
2. (of a person, animal or body part) Feeling an itching sensation; feeling a need to be scratched.
   My nose always gets itchy the moment I put on my face mask.
   Q. What do you mean by a natural, but sickly delight? A. I mean such a delight as Itchie people have to scratch, green-sickness Garles to eat coles and chalk, and those in a burning Fever, to drink cold drink. 1659, Lyon Freeman, The Common-wealths Catechism, London: John Clowes, pages 15–16
   I heard the trumpet of its famous mosquito, but did not feel its attacks; still the itchy hillocks on my hands for some days afterwards reported the venom of the insect. 1869, John Tyndall, “Odds and Ends of Alpine Life”, in Littel’s Living Age, Series 4, Vol. 13, No. 1303, p. 471
   […] the hot, dusty air swept in through the open windows and made Adam’s eyes itchy and teary. 2009, Tash Aw, chapter 34, in Map of the Invisible World, New York: Spiegel & Grau, published 2010, page 314
3. Causing an itching sensation.
   He refuses to wear the new sweater; he says it’s itchy.
   It was one room crowded with attic furniture, a sofa and fat chairs upholstered in that itchy, particular red velvet that one associates with hot days on a train. 1958, Truman Capote, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Penguin, published 1961, page 9
   I remember only the ugly black stockings, woolly and very itchy, and the little red tam I had to wear and how much I hated it. 1973, Maria Campbell, chapter 5, in Halfbreed,, Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, page 44
4. (figurative) In a state of agitation; easily alarmed.
   Casy said softly, “All of ’em’s itchy. Them cops been sayin’ how they’re gonna beat the hell outa us an’ run us outa the county. […]” 1939, John Steinbeck, chapter 26, in The Grapes of Wrath, New York: Viking, published 1958, page 526
   1966, Robert A. Heinlein, The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress, Chapter 16, in Worlds of If, Volume 16, No. 1, Issue 98, January, 1966, p. 77, […] I got itchy wondering whether I could go inside Complex without being nabbed.
   At first I’d feel lonely, afraid, itchy, very afraid to go on with my story, afraid it wasn’t any good, afraid it was terrific and I was about to spoil it, afraid it was better than I understood and I would never know how to equal it again […] 1988, Edmund White, chapter 4, in The Beautiful Room Is Empty, London: Pan Books, page 87
   Chasing after the stories about those girls in the ward made me itchy and restless. 2003, Siri Hustvedt, What I Loved, London: Hodder & Stoughton, Part 1, p. 89
5. (figurative) Having a constant, teasing desire (for something, to do something); impatiently eager.
   Who simply stares and listens / Tongue-tied, while eye nor glistens / Nor brow grows hot and twitchy, / Nor mouth, for a combat itchy, / Quivers with some convincing / Reply 1876, Robert Browning, Pacchiarotto, and How He Worked in Distemper, Boston: James R. Osgood, published 1877, page 17
   So I went over to see Miss Huntress and after a lot of finagling around with this itchy-handed house dick I got to see her and we had a chat […] 1939, Raymond Chandler, chapter 7, in Trouble Is My Business, Philadelphia: Curtis Publishing
   By now, Pearl would have been out the door and halfway down the steps, reaching for the three of them with those eager, itchy fingers of hers. 1982, Anne Tyler, chapter 10, in Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant, New York: Knopf, published 1989, page 282
   She’d forgotten about the box […]. Not until Palma was home did she start getting itchy to open it before Christmas, but in the end she put it away unopened. 2014, Ana Castillo, Give It to Me, New York: Feminist Press, Part 1, Chapter 14, p. 60
6. (figurative) Causing a constant, teasing desire for something.
   They are curious with the itchy curiosity of their explorative time of life, and they have no proper guidance. 1923, Samuel Hopkins Adams, chapter 12, in Flaming Youth, New York: Boni and Liveright, page 129
   A bachelor at sixty-eight and an uneasy drinker, Holcomb was seized with an itchy, reminiscent lust whenever he drank too much […] 1951, William Styron, chapter 6, in Lie Down in Darkness, Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, pages 309–310
   With peace gone he was left with plain old boredom, and not the clean kind. But the itchy, restless kind that begged to be filled. 2016, Joe Okonkwo, chapter 41, in Jazz Moon, New York: Kensington
7. (figurative, derogatory, obsolete) Feeling or showing a high level of sexual interest.
   Car[dochia]. That slave in obsceane Language courted me. / Drew Rialls out, and would have bought my body / Diego from thee! Die[go]. Is hee so Itchy? I’le cure him. c. 1623, Thomas Middleton, The Spanish Gypsy, London: Richard Marriot, published 1653, Act 4
   what’s all the delight, / That seemes so pleasing to the itchie whorer? 1640, Nathanael Richards, Messallina, London: Daniel Frere, act I, scene 1