ick

1. An exclamation of disgust.

   Lizzie grabbed a frog out of the lake and put it in her hair! Ick!

   2 more examples

   Some foot fetishists look for a woman to stomp on them while wearing exotic shoes, while others just want to lick a woman’s toes. (Ick. Can you say, bacteria festival?)

   2005, Annabelle du Fouet, “The murky world from whence it all came” (chapter 2), in Weather Balloons Make Rotten Sex Toys, Ellora's Cave, →ISBN, page 38

   An aside for those who think “ick” about goat milk: If there are no billy goats around to arouse those sex hormones, goat milk does not taste “goat-y.

   2014, Vicki Robin, Blessing the Hands That Feed Us: Lessons from a 10-Mile Diet

   Synonyms: ew, ugh, yuck

plural icks

1. informaluncountableSomething distasteful or physically unpleasant to touch.

   Did you get ick all over my things? Should I walk myself through a car wash on the way home?

   2015, Chris Lynch, Killing Time in Crystal City, page 182

   2 more examples

   Like it wasn't bad enough that I was soaked to the bone, now I had to lug an ick covered designer original across a puddle filled runway.

   2011, J. Morgan, Southern Werewolf Chronicles Book Two: Were the Moon Don't Shine

   The UN, for its part, has suggested eating insects as a way of feeding those extra mouths, which may put the frankenmeat ick factor in perspective.

   2013 August 6, John Michael McGrath, “The Frankenmeat of the Future”, in Hazlitt, archived from the original on 18 Mar 2025

2. countableinformaluncountableA feeling of revulsion.

   to have the ick

   5 more examples

   And I was nodding, "Uh-huh," trying not to have an ick attack, worrying, Is my face giving something away?

   1999 March 30, judy wieder, “Steve Kmetko's true hollywood story”, in The Advocate, page 36

   I wish none of this bothered me, but I feel this ick about Burnham and it isn't going away.

   2017, Caragh M. O'Brien, The Keep of Ages, page 36

   She'd woken up today with a general ick about doing this job, but every time she considered canceling and giving Hailey her money back, she couldn't do it.

   2018, NJ Damschroder, Manifest Destiny

   And as sad as that can be, we can't fake our feelings – if you've got the ick, you've got the ick.

   2022, Anna Williamson, Where is the Love?: The Honest Guide to Dating and Relationships

   “People use dating apps, but I don’t know anyone who pays for it,” Ms. Wang said. In fact, she said that she would consider it an “ick” if she learned somebody was paying for a subscription.

   2024 March 12, J. Edward Moreno, quoting Kathryn D. Coduto, “Dating Apps Have Hit a Wall. Can They Turn Things Around?”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 20 Mar 2024

3. countableslanguncountableAnything moaned about; a gripe.

   How can you stand such an ick ?

   1963, Thomas A. Erhard, The Electronovac Gasser: A Farce in Three Acts, page 45

   4 more examples

   Of course, the idea of drinking blood is a total ick right now, but I suppose once you—

   2009, Mary-Janice Davidson, Nina Bangs, Janelle Denison, Surf's Up

   For the umpteenth time that day one of my fellow men regarded me with scorn. “You're so icky. Such an ick.”

   2012, Doris Piserchia, The Dimensioneers

   I keep thinking back to last Valentine's Day—I was such an ick—and you sent me that card.

   2013, Tara Taylor Quinn, It Happened on Maple Street

   The thought of him and his obsessive begging for sex gave me a predatory vibe and was a total ick.

   2022, Jamila Coleman, Surviving Seventeen… And The Years Leading Up To It, page 159

1. informalIcky; distasteful or unpleasant.

   He thought she would be an embarrassment. That kind of made me feel a bit ick.

   2015, Candy J Starr, Bad Boy Rock Star: The Complete Story

   2 more examples

   'It's a bit ick, to be honest, but Rochelle thought it would be funny. Last year we did dragon's diarrhoea, with Tia Maria and chocolate Angel Delight, but nobody would touch it.'

   2012, Sue Moorcroft, Dream a Little Dream

   There's nothing “ick” about him, but I'm not sure how to say that without sounding like I'm reciting lines from that terrible bodice ripper I took on Theo's practice date.

   2021, Jacqueline Firkins, How Not to Fall in Love, page 201

1. alternativeuncountableAlternative form of ich (“fish disease”).

plural ICKs

1. abbreviationinitialismbiochemistryInitialism of inhibitor cystine knot.

   1 more example

   The composition of the venoms of the first three is dominated by short (3–9-kDa) disulfide-rich peptides that contain the inhibitor cysteine knot (ICK) motif, although heavier proteins, including enzymes, are also present. ICK peptides are structurally very stable and mainly target the nervous system, acting primarily on membrane channels or neuronal receptors^(3,4,5).

   2022 June 10, Oliveira, A.L., Viegas, M.F., da Silva, S.L. et al., “The chemistry of snake venom and its medicinal potential”, in Nature Reviews Chemistry, volume 6, →DOI, page 451