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A figure of speech by which the orator or writer suddenly breaks off from the previous method of his discourse, and addresses, in the second person, some person or thing, absent or present; as, Milton's apostrophe to Light at the beginning of the third book of "Paradise Lost."

with fear in such a manner that the mind shrinks, or loses its firmness; to overcome with sudden terror or horror; to dismay; as, the sight appalled the stoutest heart. The house of peers was somewhat appalled at this alarum. Clarendon.

The act of becoming visible; appearance; visibility. Milton. The sudden apparition of the Spaniards. Prescott. The apparition of Lawyer Clippurse occasioned much speculation in that portion of the world. Sir W. Scott.

he act of appearing or coming into sight; the act of becoming visible to the eye; as, his sudden appearance surprised me.

se the value of; to increase the market price of; -- opposed to depreciate. [U.S.] Lest a sudden peace should appreciate the money. Ramsay.

The act of taking away. [Obs.] "This arreption was sudden." Bp. Hall.

To make an assault upon, as by a sudden rush of armed men; to attack with unlawful or insulting physical violence or menaces. Insnared, assaulted, overcome, led bound. Milton.

To strike with sudden fear, terror, or wonder; to amaze; to surprise greatly, as with something unaccountable; to confound with some sudden emotion or passion. Musidorus . . . had his wits astonished with sorrow. Sidney. I, Daniel . . . was astonished at the vision. Dan. viii. 27.

Stunned; astounded; astonished. [Archaic] Spenser. Thus Ellen, dizzy and astound. As sudden ruin yawned around. Sir W. Scott.

A sudden, great, or irresistible descent or influx of anything.

nt. Wolsey, . . . on every avoidance of St. Peter's chair, was sitting down therein, when suddenly some one or other clapped in before him. Fuller.

The sudden removal of lands or soil from the estate of one man to that of another by an inundation or a current, or by a sudden change in the course of a river by which a part of the estate of one man is cut off and joined to the estate of another. The property in the part thus separated, or cut off, continues in the o…

A sudden and obstinate stop; a failure.

The sound produced by a sudden concussion.

re or regulate time in music by the motion of the hand or foot. -- To beat up, to attack suddenly; to alarm or disturb; as, to beat up an enemy's quarters.

A sudden, pernicious effect, as if by a noxious wind, especially on animals and plants; a blight. By the blast of God they perish. Job iv. 9. Virtue preserved from fell destruction's blast. Shak.

A sudden stroke or injury produced by some destructive cause. [Obs.] Shak.

To make the noise of, or one like that of, a sheep; to cry like a sheep or calf. Then suddenly was heard along the main, To low the ox, to bleat the woolly train. Pope The ewe that will not hear her lamb when it baas, will never answer a calf when he bleats. Shak.

A sudden or forcible act or effort; an assault. A vigorous blow might win [Hanno's camp]. T. Arnold.

To utter suddenly and unadvisedly; to divulge inconsiderately; to ejaculate; -- commonly with out. Others . . . can not hold, but blurt out, those words which afterward they forced to eat. Hakewill. To blurt at, to speak contemptuously of. [Obs.] Shak.