Webster
✕

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Convulse

Con·vulse′, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Convulsed; p. pr. & vb. n. Convulsing.] [L. convulsus, p. p. of convellere to tear up, to shake; con- + vellere to pluck, pull.] 1. To contract violently and irregulary, as the muscular parts of an animal body; to shake with irregular spasms, as in excessive laughter, or in agony from grief or pain.

With emotions which checked his voice and convulsed his powerful frame. Macaulay.

2. To agitate greatly; to shake violently.

The world is convulsed by the agonies of great nations. Macaulay.

Syn. — To agitate; disturb; shake; tear; rend.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.