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prettygoodwordskitter (SKIT-er) - v., to go, run, or glide lightly or rapidly, usually with frequent light contacts or changes of direction; to make a scratching or scuttling noise while, or as if, skittering.
Running rats and mice often skitter. The stem of this isn't entirely lost, but is regional dialect: N. England and Scotland skite, to run rapidly, probably of Old Norse origin -- skitter is attested from around 1840, which makes it a surprisingly late formation, unless it was also an unattested regional form.
And that's the end of this fifth and, alas, final week of frequentives. I have one more frequentive I want to run, which I'll post Monday before returning to the usual unsorted heap.
---L.
Running rats and mice often skitter. The stem of this isn't entirely lost, but is regional dialect: N. England and Scotland skite, to run rapidly, probably of Old Norse origin -- skitter is attested from around 1840, which makes it a surprisingly late formation, unless it was also an unattested regional form.
And that's the end of this fifth and, alas, final week of frequentives. I have one more frequentive I want to run, which I'll post Monday before returning to the usual unsorted heap.
---L.
