Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (orig. US) of a person or an object (typically a film or play), sickly, over-sentimental.

1922		Joyce Ulysses 544: They blow ickylickysticky yumyum kisses.
1939		P.E. Miller Down Beat’s Yearbook of Swing n.p.: icky: straight and sweet.
c.1940		‘Benny Goodman in “Swing on This!”’ [comic strip] in B. Adelman Tijuana Bibles (1997) 105: If you expect any more fucking right now you’re icky.
1951		Green & Laurie Show Biz from Vaude to Video 46: The idiom gave way to corny, icky, off-the-cob and square from Delaware.
1975		L. Rosten Dear ‘Herm’ 151: I never in my whole life saw Daddy so icky in re a female.
1985		‘Jennifer Blowdryer’ Modern English : chickie broad (n): An Icky Broad, a yuk broad.
1999		Guardian Guide 10–16 July 5: The kind of ludicrous animatronic munchkins Jim Henson would have rejected for being too, you know, icky.
2000		Observer Screen 23 Apr. 14: This really is as icky as I remember from the original 1970 film.
2006		Sam and the City at blogs.smh.com.au 20 June [blog] Yet those of us who are just a little more than fed up with icky public displays of affection better join the queue because it seems PDA is here to stay.

2. (mainly US teen) usu. of food, sticky, sweet, unpleasant.

1929		in J. Cruze Great Gabbo [film script] When I drop my lollipop it gets all over icky [HDAS].
1987		‘Victoria Parker’ Pay for Play Cheerleaders 🌐 Chrissie reached out and caught a big blob on her hand, snatched it in mid-air. ‘Icky pooh! Shoot icky pooh, mister!’.

3. (mainly teen, also yicky) distasteful, nauseating, unpleasant.

c.1940		‘Benny Goodman in “Swing on This!”’ [comic strip] in B. Adelman Tijuana Bibles (1997) 105: You taste kind of icky.
1958		Southern & Hoffenberg Candy (1970) 121: She began trying to smooth out her skirt, which was wrinkled and still quite wet. ‘Ughh, these things are all icky.’.
1964		in Current Sl. (1967) I:4 5/2: Yicky, adj. Dirty.
1968		S. Alexander Life Mag. 20 Sept. n.p.: So many things seem wrong and boring and silly and sad about the Miss America Pageant . . . It is dull and pretentious and racist and exploitative and icky and sad [R].
1978		J. Krantz Scruples 32: Who in earth is that — yech — fat, awful funny-looking girl in that icky blue dress.
1980		L. Birnbach Official Preppie Hbk 220: Icky...Also ‘ickypoo’.
1989		Chapple & Talbot Burning Desires 301: Straight men [...] tend to feel a stranger’s sperm is, well, icky.
1990		S. Morgan Homeboy 72: That way she wouldn’t have to worry about their icky breath.
2007		T. Dorsey Hurricane Punch 28: Public shelters are generally icky.
2013		slate.com 22 June 🌐 Board shorts look stupid but speedos are just icky.

4. (US black) unpleasant, unfair.

1940		N.Y. Age 20 July 10/5: We have been accused of being ickey the reason being they say we have failed to dig certain people.
1944		Ted Yates ‘I’ve Been Around’ 25 Feb. [synd. col.] An icky German paperhanger, one Adolph Schicklgruber.

5. (US drugs) feeling sick as part of heroin withdrawal.

1968

‘Sl. of Watts’ in Current Sl. III:2.