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A sharp, shrill, disagreeable sound suddenly utered, either of the human voice or of any animal or instrument, such as is made by carriage wheels when dry, by the soles of leather shoes, or by a pipe or reed.

Fig.: An injury inflicted covertly or suddenly; as, a stab given to character.

A disease of horses and other animals, attended by reeling, unsteady gait or sudden falling; as, parasitic staggers; appopletic or sleepy staggers.

o cut out, bend, or indent, as paper, sheet metal, etc., into various forms, by a blow or suddenly applied pressure with a stamp or die, etc.; to mint; to coin.

ng scamper, or running away, of a number of animals; usually caused by fright; hence, any sudden flight or dispersion, as of a crowd or an army in consequence of a panic. She and her husband would join in the general stampede. W. Black.

To move suddenly, as with a spring or leap, from surprise, pain, or other sudden feeling or emotion, or by a voluntary act. And maketh him out of his sleep to start. Chaucer. I start as from some dreadful dream. Dryden. Keep your soul to the work when ready to start aside. I. Watts. But if he start, It is the flesh of…

One who comes suddenly into notice; an upstart. [Obs.] Shak.

By sudden fits or starts; spasmodically. Shak.

To move suddenly, or be excited, on feeling alarm; to start. Why shrinks the soul Back on herself, and startles at destruction Addison.

orth. -- To step in or into. (a) To walk or advance into a place or state, or to advance suddenly in. Whosoever then first, after the troubling of the water, stepped in, was made whole of whatsoever disease he had. John v. 4.

on; to halt, or stand still; to come to a stop. He bites his lip, and starts; Stops on a sudden, looks upon the ground; Then lays his finger on his temple: strait Springs out into fast gait; then stops again. Shak.

A sudden, severe pain or grief; peril; alarm. [Obs.] Spenser.

To make a sudden impression upon, as by a blow; to affect sensibly with some strong emotion; as, to strike the mind, with surprise; to strike one with wonder, alarm, dread, or horror. Nice works of art strike and surprise us most on the first view. Atterbury. They please as beauties, here as wonders strike. Pope.…

An habitual sudden twitching of the hinder leg of a horse, or an involuntary or convulsive contraction of the muscles that raise the hock. [Written also springhalt.]

A sudden attack of disease; especially, a fatal attack; a severe disaster; any affliction or calamity, especially a sudden one; as, a stroke of apoplexy; the stroke of death. At this one stroke the man looked dead in law. Harte.

Of or pertaining to the river Styx; hence, hellish; infernal. See Styx. At that so sudden blaze, the Stygian throng Bent their aspect. Milton.

Sudden; hasty. [Obs.] Bullokar. -- Sub`i*ta"ne*ous*ness, n. [Obs.]

Subitaneous; sudden; hasty. [Obs.] Hales.

Bounding; leaping; moving by sudden leaps or starts. [R.] -- Sub*sul"to*ri*ly, adv. [R.] Flippancy opposed to solemnity, the subsultory to the continuous, -- these are the two frequent extremities to which the French manner betrays men. De Quincey.

Any affection produced by the action of the sun on some part of the body; especially, a sudden prostration of the physical powers, with symptoms resembling those of apoplexy, occasioned by exposure to excessive heat, and often terminating fatally; coup de soleil.