skitter

Etymology

Definitions

1. 1

   To move hurriedly or as by bouncing or twitching

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

   • I opened the cabinet and a number of cockroaches went skittering off into the darkness.
   • Some kinds of ducks in lighting strike the water with their tails first, and skitter along the surface for a few feet before settling down.
2. 2

   To make a scratching or scuttling noise while, or as if, skittering.

3. 3

   To move or pass (something) over a surface quickly so that it touches only at intervals

   To move or pass (something) over a surface quickly so that it touches only at intervals; to skip, to skite.

4. ›+ 4 more definitionsshow fewer

   1. 4

      A skittering movement.

      • A skitter of activity. A skitter of gooseflesh.
      • I had seen an aerial helix of raptors, hawks and harriers riding a thermal, and below them a skitter of ringed plover and other waders, together with more kingfishers than I had ever seen before.
   2. 5

      To cause to have diarrhea.

      • "[…] 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. 6

      To suffer from a bout of diarrhea

      To suffer from a bout of diarrhea; to produce thin excrement.

   4. 7

      Often skitters

      Often skitters: the condition of suffering from diarrhea; thin excrement.

      • I can't give it my immediate attention, as the cow has the skitter (diarrhoea) and I'm waiting on the Vit (vet).
      • Shaking but making herself stand there while skitter ran down the inside of her legs. She learnt German early from Anna. Durchfall easier to spell than Diarrhoea. Falling liquid brown.

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