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:
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:
Lizzie grabbed a frog out of the lake and put it in her hair! Ick!
'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:
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:
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:
(informal, uncountable) Something distasteful or physically unpleasant to touch.
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:
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:
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:
(countable, informal, uncountable) A feeling of revulsion.
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:
“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:
to have the ick
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:
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:
(countable, slang, uncountable) Anything moaned about; a gripe.
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:
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:
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:
How can you stand such an ick ? 1963, Thomas A. Erhard, The Electronovac Gasser: A Farce in Three Acts, page 45: