Search the Dictionary

th a quick, light blow; to tap. If any man happened by long sitting to sleep . . . he was suddenly bobbed on the face by the servants. Elyot.

To stop or hesitate as if suddenly frightened, or in doubt, or impeded by unforeseen difficulties; to take alarm; to exhibit hesitancy and indecision. We start and boggle at every unusual appearance. Glanvill. Boggling at nothing which serveth their purpose. Barrow.

To start forth like a bolt or arrow; to spring abruptly; to come or go suddenly; to dart; as, to bolt out of the room. This Puck seems but a dreaming dolt, . . . And oft out of a bush doth bolt. Drayton.

One who bolts; esp.: (a) A horse which starts suddenly aside.

The act of looking out suddenly, as from behind a screen, so as to startle some one (as by children in play), or of looking out and drawing suddenly back, as if frightened. I for sorrow sung, That such a king should play bopeep, And go the fools among. Shak.

To strike or thump, so as to rebound, or to make a sudden noise; a knock loudly. Another bounces as hard as he can knock. Swift. Against his bosom bounced his heaving heart. Dryden.

To move with a sudden spring or leap, or with a succession of springs or leaps; as the beast bounded from his den; the herd bounded across the plain. Before his lord the ready spaniel bounds. Pope. And the waves bound beneath me as a steed That knows his rider. Byron.

A rash or eruption; a sudden or transient fit of sickness.

To come apart or divide into two or more pieces, usually with suddenness and violence; to part; to burst asunder.

Orig., at Sydney, a cold and violent south or southwest wind, rising suddenly, and regularly preceded by a hot wind from the north; -- now usually called southerly buster. It blew across the Brickfields, formerly so called, a district of Sydney, and carried clouds of dust into the city.

The quality or state of being bright; splendor; luster; brilliancy; clearness. A sudden brightness in his face appear. Crabbe.

ne so rapidly to leeward of the course, when a ship sails large, as to bring the lee side suddenly to the windward, any by laying the sails aback, expose her to danger of upsetting. -- To bring down. (a) To cause to come down. (b) To humble or abase; as, to bring down high looks. -- To bring down the house, to cause…

To enlarge or dress (a hole), by using a broach. To broach to (Naut.), to incline suddenly to windward, so as to lay the sails aback, and expose the vessel to the danger of oversetting.

; to strike repeatedly; to strive with or contend against; as, to buffet the billows. The sudden hurricane in thunder roars, Buffets the bark, and whirls it from the shores. Broome. You are lucky fellows who can live in a dreamland of your own, instead of being buffeted about the world. W. Black.

To fly apart or in pieces; of break open; to yield to force or pressure, especially to a sudden and violent exertion of force, or to pressure from within; to explode; as, the boiler had burst; the buds will burst in spring. From the egg that soon Bursting with kindly rupture, forth disclosed Their callow young. Milton.…

A push, thrust, or sudden blow, given by the head of an animal; as, the butt of a ram.

A sudden thrust, push, kick, or other impulse, producing a bias or change of direction; also, the bias or turn so give; as, to give a ball a cant.

Governed or characterized by caprice; apt to change suddenly; freakish; whimsical; changeable. "Capricious poet." Shak. "Capricious humor." Hugh Miller. A capricious partiality to the Romish practices. Hallam.

Any violent catastrophe, involving sudden and extensive changes of the earth's surface.

A sudden suspension of sensation and volition, the body and limbs preserving the position that may be given them, while the action of the heart and lungs continues.