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skittish - 4 dictionary results

skit⋅tish

  [skit-ish]
Use skittish in a Sentence
–adjective
1. apt to start or shy: a skittish horse.
2. restlessly or excessively lively: a skittish mood.
3. fickle; uncertain.
4. shy; coy.
Origin:
1375–1425; late ME, perh. deriv. of the Scand source of skite 1 ; see -ish 1

Related forms:
skit⋅tish⋅ly, adverb
skit⋅tish⋅ness, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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skit·tish   (skĭt'ĭsh)   
adj.  
  1. Moving quickly and lightly; lively.
  2. Restlessly active or nervous; restive.
  3. Undependably variable; mercurial or fickle.
  4. Shy; bashful.

[Middle English, perhaps of Scandinavian origin; akin to Old Norse skjōta, to shoot; see shoot.]
skit'tish·ly adv., skit'tish·ness n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Skittish

Skit"tish\, a. [See Skit, v. t.]

1. Easily frightened; timorous; shy; untrustworthy; as, a skittish colt. "A restiff, skittish jade." --L'Estrange.

2. Wanton; restive; freakish; volatile; changeable; fickle. "Skittish Fortune's hall." --Shak. -- Skit"tish*ly, adv. -- Skit"tish*ness, n.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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skittish 
c.1412, "very lively, frivolous," perhaps from Scand. base *skyt- (stem of O.N. skjuta "to shoot"), from PIE base *skeud- "to shoot, to chase, to throw, to project" (see shoot (v.)). Sense of "apt to run" first recorded about 1510, of horses.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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