startle

present singular third person startles · participle present startling · participle past startled · past startled

1. intransitiveTo move suddenly, or be excited, on feeling alarm; to start.

   a horse that startles easily

   2 more examples

   Why shrinks the soul / Back on herself, and startles at destruction?

   1712 (date written), [Joseph] Addison, Cato, a Tragedy. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], published 1713, →OCLC, Act V, scene i, page 56

   He felt, too, that he was acting unjustly by Ethel: he had allowed a fortnight to elapse—he startled when he numbered up the days; it is strange how we allow them to glide imperceptibly away.

   1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “A Proposal of Marriage”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 127

   Synonyms: start

2. transitiveTo excite by sudden alarm, surprise, or apprehension; to frighten suddenly and not seriously; to alarm; to surprise.

   The supposition, at least, that angels do sometimes assume bodies need not startle us.

   1689 (indicated as 1690), [John Locke], An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding. […], London: […] Eliz[abeth] Holt, for Thomas Basset, […], →OCLC

   2 more examples

   Nothing could startle her, make her scold or make her cry. She did not complain, she did not rebel.

   1896, Joseph Conrad, chapter I, in An Outcast of the Islands, London: T. Fisher Unwin […], →OCLC, part I, page 10

   The high voice in the night air startled me. Without thinking, I started to run. Then stopped. I spun around, my heart heaving against my chest. And saw a boy. About my age.

   1997, R. L. Stine, Say Cheese and Die, Again!

   Synonyms: alarm, frighten, scare, surprise

3. obsoletetransitiveTo deter; to cause to deviate.

   it would blast all their hopes, and startle all other princes from joining

   1660, Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon, The Life of Edward Earl of Clarendon, Lord High Chancellor of England

   1 more example

   As they turned into Hertford Street they startled a robin from the poet's head on a barren fountain, and he fled away with a cameo note.

   1922, Michael Arlen, “Ep./4/2”, in “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days

   Synonyms: deter

plural startles

1. A sudden motion or shock caused by an unexpected alarm, surprise, or apprehension of danger.

   The figure of a man heaving in sight amidst these wide solitudes, always causes a startle and thrill of expectation and doubt, similar to the feeling produced by the announcement of " a strange sail ahead" on shipboard, during a long voyage.

   1845, George Hooker Colton, James Davenport Whelpley, chapter 1, in The American review