vellications

Noun

vellication (plural vellications)

1. An instance of tickling or minor irritation.
   • Where irritation coincides with sensation to produce the same catenations of motion, as in inflammatory fevers, they are excited with still greater energy than by the irritation alone. So when children expect to be tickled in play, by a feather lightly passed over the lips, or by gently vellicating...1796, Erasmus Darwin, Zoonomia
2. A spasm or twitch.
   • Dear Madam, I think it long ſince I wrote, and ſometimes venture to hope that you think it long too. The intermiſſion has been filled with ſpaſms, opiates, ſleepleſs nights, and heavy days. Theſe vellications or my breaſt ſhorten my breath; whether they will much ſhorten my life I know not, but I...1783, Samuel Johnson, Letter CCCXXXIV (to Mrs Susannah Thrale)