ick

Interjection

1. An exclamation of disgust.
   • Lizzie grabbed a frog out of the lake and put it in her hair! Ick!
   • 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

   Synonyms:

   ew, ugh, yuck

Noun (1)

ick (countable and uncountable, plural icks)

1. (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
   • 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. (informal) A feeling of revulsion.
   • 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
3. (slang) Anything 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
   • 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

Adjective

ick

1. (informal) Icky; distasteful or unpleasant.
   • '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

Noun (2) capitalized: ICK

ICK (plural ICKs)

1. (abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of inhibitor cystine knot.
   • 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...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