CONVULSE • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Convulse

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verb

Convulse v. t. (past & past part. convulsed; pres. part. convulsing)

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."

To agitate greatly; to shake violently. "The world is convulsed by the agonies of great nations."

Synonyms: To agitate; disturb; shake; tear; rend.

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Etymology of 'Convulse'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Convulse" Quotes from Famous Books

... told me so I could convulse the heavens with my horror. I think I could alter the frame of things in my agony. I think I could break the System with my heart. I think, in my convulsion, the ...

— Look! We Have Come Through! • D. H. Lawrence

... relation, a type of a religious democracy in love with the spirit of art. We do not mean that any such cold abstraction is consciously intended, but all that is said means this. It shadows forth one of the greatest desires which convulse our age. ...

— Woman in the Ninteenth Century - and Kindred Papers Relating to the Sphere, Condition - and Duties, of Woman. • Margaret Fuller Ossoli

... consider more at leisure these revelations. He foreread like a placard Jeanne d'Etoiles' magnificent scheme: it would convulse all Europe. England would remain supine, because Henry Pelham could hardly hold the ministry together, even now; Newcastle was a fool; and Ormskirk would be dead. He would barter his soul for one ...

— Gallantry - Dizain des Fetes Galantes • James Branch Cabell

... Think on the wars men have fought for lies, on the millions of followers lies have had—how from their lofty seats they govern empires, convulse continents, and drive patient nations mad. Think on the money they have made, the mouths they have filled, the backs they have warmed, the houses they have built, the reputations they have created, the systems ...

— Continental Monthly, Volume 5, Issue 4 • Various

... to convulse the church had not yet begun. 'You may smile,' Mr. Gladstone said long after, 'when told that when I was at Oxford, Dr. Hampden was regarded as a model of orthodoxy; that Dr. Newman was eyed with suspicion as a low churchman, and Dr. Pusey as ...

— The Life of William Ewart Gladstone, Vol. 1 (of 3) - 1809-1859 • John Morley

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