Green’s Dictionary of Slang

diarrhoea; thus skittering, of excrement, thin, watery; skitter oneself v.

[1684		A York-Shire Dialogue 43: Thur Yowes aere Clowclagg’d, they skitter faire. [Ibid.] 106: Skitter, is when Cattel Scoure, or shite thin].
1790		‘Bumper Allnight. Esquire’ Honest Fellow 149: Your skittering t—ds I do detest, / They so resemble mustard, / That you may sup them with a spoon / For they are like a custard.
c.1854		‘Fall of Sebastopol’ in C. Hindley Curiosities of Street Lit. (1871) 101: And the Russian commander in his breeches did s—t / For he had got the skitters with Johnny Bull’s pills.
1917		R. Cullum Triumph of John Kars 111: They’ve been worrying it all summer, worse than the skitters.
1939		J. Steinbeck Grapes of Wrath (1951) 289: They et green grapes. They all five got the howlin’ skitters. [Ibid.] 364 : Et so many peaches he skittered hisself.
1959		G. Slatter Gun in My Hand 59: Men with skitters running desperately for the latrines.
1980		C.M. Fraser Blue Above the Chimneys 130: An auld wifie [...] started shoutin’ the odds. She had the skitters and was on at me to hurry for fear she would mess her breeks.
1999		Scotland on Sunday Mag. 7 Nov. 17: I would be on the floor, conked out with the skitters, shaking, being sick.
2005		P. Melia Killing Time 62: ‘Not to mention the skitters, non stop, for the last week.’ ‘Yes, well if you don’t mind I think we won’t mention the state of your bowels at the moment.’.