palpitate

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin palpitō, palpitātus (“throb, pulsate, palpitate”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpælpɪteɪt/

Verb

palpitate (third-person singular simple present palpitates, present participle palpitating, simple past and past participle palpitated)

1. (intransitive) To beat strongly or rapidly; said especially of the heart.

   When he just looks at me, my heart begins to palpitate with excitement.

2. (transitive) To cause to beat strongly or rapidly.

   The allergy medicine palpitates my heart.

3. (intransitive) To shake tremulously
   • 1749, [John Cleland], “(Please specify the letter or volume)”, in Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure [Fanny Hill], London: […] [Thomas Parker] for G. Fenton [i.e., Fenton and Ralph Griffiths] […], →OCLC:

     I was now so bruised, so batter'd, so spent with this over-match, that I could hardly stir, or raise myself, but lay palpitating

   • 1904–1905, Baroness Orczy [i.e., Emma Orczy], “The Tremarn Case”, in The Case of Miss Elliott, London: T[homas] Fisher Unwin, published 1905, →OCLC; republished as popular edition, London: Greening & Co., 1909, OCLC 11192831, quoted in The Case of Miss Elliott (ebook no. 2000141h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg of Australia, February 2020:

     “Two or three months more went by ; the public were eagerly awaiting the arrival of this semi-exotic claimant to an English peerage, and sensations, surpassing those of the Tichbourne case, were looked forward to with palpitating interest. […]”

Synonyms

• (to beat rapidly): flutter, pound, throb
• (to shake tremulously): quiver, tremble, vibrate

Derived terms

• palpitant
• palpitation

Translations

of the heart: to beat strongly or rapidly

• Bulgarian: бия (bg) (bija), пулсирам (bg) (pulsiram)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 悸動／悸动 (zh) (jìdòng)

• Finnish: tykyttää (fi), hakata (fi), jyskyttää (fi)
• Kabuverdianu: palpita
• Maori: kapakapatū, hotohoto, huahuaki, moko(w)hiti, kakapa, whētuki

to cause to beat strongly or rapidly

• Finnish: aiheuttaa tykytystä

to shake tremulously

• Bulgarian: треперя (bg) (treperja)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 顫抖／颤抖 (zh) (chàndǒu)

• Finnish: täristä (fi), väristä (fi), hytistä (fi)
• Kabuverdianu: palpita

Italian

Etymology 1

Verb

palpitate

1. inflection of palpitare:
   1. second-person plural present indicative
   2. second-person plural imperative

Etymology 2

Participle

palpitate f pl

1. feminine plural of palpitato

Latin

Verb

palpitāte

1. second-person plural present active imperative of palpitō

Spanish

Verb

palpitate

1. second-person singular voseo imperative of palpitar combined with te