startle

English

Etymology

From Middle English startlen, stertlen, stertyllen (“to rush, stumble along”), from Old English steartlian (“to kick with the foot, struggle, stumble”), equivalent to start +‎ -le. Cognate with Old Norse stirtla (“to hobble, stagger”), Icelandic stirtla (“to straighten up, erect”). Compare also Middle English stertil (“hasty”). More at start.

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ɑː(r)təl

Verb

startle (third-person singular simple present startles, present participle startling, simple past and past participle startled)

1. (intransitive) To move suddenly, or be excited, on feeling alarm; to start.

   a horse that startles easily

   • Addison

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

2. (transitive) To excite by sudden alarm, surprise, or apprehension; to frighten suddenly and not seriously; to alarm; to surprise.
   • John Locke

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

   • 1896, Joseph Conrad, "An outcast of the islands"

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

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

     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.

3. (transitive, obsolete) To deter; to cause to deviate.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Clarendon to this entry?)

Synonyms

• (to move suddenly): start
• (to excite suddenly): alarm, frighten, scare, surprise
• (deter): deter

Derived terms

• startling

Translations

to move or be excited on feeling alarm

• Dutch: schrikken (nl)
• Finnish: hätkähtää (fi), kavahtaa (fi), säikähtää (fi)
• French: sursauter (fr)
• Italian: scattare (it), sobbalzare (it)

• Kurdish:

  Sorani: داچڵه‌کاندن (ku)

• Spanish: sobresaltar (es)se, alarmar (es)se

to excite by sudden alarm, surprise, or apprehension

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 吓了一跳 (cmn) (xiàleyítiào)

• Dutch: laten schrikken (nl)
• Esperanto: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: säikäyttää (fi), hätkäyttää (fi)
• French: surprendre (fr)
• Greek: ξαφνιάζω (el) (xafniázo), αιφνιδιάζω (el) (aifnidiázo)
• Hebrew: הבהיל (he) (hevhil) m

• Italian: spaventare (it), sorprendere (it)
• Japanese: please add this translation if you can
• Latin: terreō (la), pavefaciō (la)
• Old English: please add this translation if you can
• Portuguese: assustar (pt), dar um susto (pt)
• Russian: поражать (ru) (poražát’), вздрагивать (ru) (vzdrágivat’)
• Swedish: please add this translation if you can
• Thai: ความตกใจ (kwaam dtòk jai)
• Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can

to deter; to cause to deviate

• Finnish: harhauttaa (fi)
• Italian: schivare (it), evitare (it)

• Latin: terreō (la)
• Spanish: evitar (es), impedir (es)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

• Spanish: sobresaltar (es)se, asustar (es)se, alarmar (es)se

Noun

startle (plural startles)

1. A sudden motion or shock caused by an unexpected alarm, surprise, or apprehension of danger.
   • 1845, George Hooker Colton, James Davenport Whelpley, chapter 1, The American review:

     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.

Derived terms

• startler
• startlish

Translations

a sudden motion or shock

• Finnish: hätkähdys
• Kurdish:

  Sorani: ڕاچه‌نین

• Spanish: sobresalto (es) m

See also

• skittish

Anagrams

• rattles, starlet, tarlets