tremulant

comparative more tremulant · superlative most tremulant

1. Trembling, tremulous.

   Lightning exploded through the sky, followed quickly by a tremulant clap of thunder.

   2009, Faye Kellerman, The Quality of Mercy, →ISBN, page 436

   2 more examples

   The night air wrapped them warmly, and the balm of the little breezes that stirred the foliage around them was the smell of damask roses from the garden. . . . She stood by the bench, one hand resting on it; she stood all in the tremulant shadow.

   1899, Booth Tarkington, chapter 6, in The Gentleman From Indiana

   [S]he continued in a throaty, yet tremulant voice, punctuating her words with a shy, small smile.

   2010, Joy Jouse, School Days, →ISBN, page 39

plural tremulants

1. entertainmentA mechanical component of a musical organ, designed to add vibration to the sounds produced by the instrument.

   The tremulant intentionally disturbs the stability of the wind in order to produce a desirable musical oscillation.

   2009, John R. Shanon, Understanding the Pipe Organ, →ISBN, page 22

   1 more example

   The tremulant is a small apparatus that gives to the tone of any department of an organ to which it may be applied a waving or undulating effect.

   1855, Edward J. Hopkins, “XVI: The Tremulant”, in The Organ: Its History and Construction, page 70