Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- intransitive verb To shake involuntarily, as from excitement or anger; quake. synonym: shake.
- intransitive verb To feel fear or anxiety.
- intransitive verb To vibrate or quiver.
- noun The act or state of trembling.
- noun A convulsive fit of shaking. Used with the.
- noun Poisoning of domestic animals, especially cattle and sheep, caused by eating white snakeroot or the composite plant Isocoma pluriflora of the southwest United States and northern Mexico, and characterized by muscular tremors and weakening.
- noun Any of several other animal diseases characterized by trembling, such as louping ill.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun The act or state of trembling; an involuntary quivering or shivering as from cold or fear.
- noun plural A form of disease or diseased condition in man or animals, characterized by continued trembling or tremulousness; specifically, in some parts of the United States, a disease of domestic animals, under peculiar local conditions, affecting the quality of the milk and flesh, and known as milk-sickness when communicated through these to human beings. See
milk-sickness . - To be affected with slight, quick, and continued vibratory movements; be moved in a quivering manner by some external force.
- To be affected with involuntary muscular agitation; be agitated convulsively from either a physical or a moral cause; be in a tremor; quake; shake: as, to
tremble with fatigue; his hand trembled from excitement. - To feel or manifest a quivering agitation; be tremulous or shaky; quiver; quaver: as, his voice trembled from emotion.
- Figuratively, to be in doubt or suspense; oscillate between certainty and uncertainty; hang upon chance.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun An involuntary shaking or quivering.
- intransitive verb To shake involuntarily, as with fear, cold, or weakness; to quake; to quiver; to shiver; to shudder; -- said of a person or an animal.
- intransitive verb To totter; to shake; -- said of a thing.
- intransitive verb To quaver or shake, as sound; to be tremulous; as the voice
trembles .
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb intransitive To
shake ,quiver , orvibrate . - noun A
shake ,quiver , orvibration .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a reflex motion caused by cold or fear or excitement
- verb move or jerk quickly and involuntarily up and down or sideways
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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The word tremble is commonly looked upon as denoting a good effect of faith; but here it may rather be taken as a bad effect, when applied to the faith of devils.
Commentary on the Whole Bible Volume VI (Acts to Revelation) 1721
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The atom bomb and the bacterial bomb, wielded by the wicked communist or the wicked capitalist as the case may be, make Washington and the Kremlin tremble, and drive men further along the road toward the abyss.
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He ran so fast that he thought he felt the mountain tremble beneath him.
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:: a loud tremble comes from the north as the ground rumbles and shakes, over the horizon a stegosaurus with dub riding on its back appear; dub tips his sombrero:: howdy, fags.
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10 They shall walk after the Lord: he shall roar like a lion: when he shall roar, then the children shall tremble from the west.
Commentary on the Whole Bible Volume IV (Isaiah to Malachi) 1721
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He spoke very quietly, but the deep register of his voice was such that Quinn felt every word tremble the air around him.
Harbinger DAVID MACK 2005
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He spoke very quietly, but the deep register of his voice was such that Quinn felt every word tremble the air around him.
Harbinger DAVID MACK 2005
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What gars a hand that can grip a broadsword tremble like a woman's?
Tales from Many Sources Vol. V Various
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What gars a hand that can grip a broadsword tremble like a woman's?
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Brethren, it is a solemn obligation, which may well make us tremble, that is laid on us in these words, 'As I have loved you.'
Expositions of Holy Scripture: St. John Chaps. XV to XXI Alexander Maclaren 1868
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