earthquake

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English

Earthquake tsunami wave animation.

Etymology

From Middle English erthequake, corresponding to earth +‎ quake. Displaced Old English eorþbeofung (literally “earth shaking”).

Pronunciation

  • Lua error in Module:parameters at line 360: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "RP" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): /ˈɜːθkweɪk/
  • Lua error in Module:parameters at line 360: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "GA" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): /ˈɝθkweɪk/
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)θkweɪk

Noun

earthquake (plural earthquakes)

  1. A shaking of the ground, caused by volcanic activity or movement around geologic faults. [from 14th c.]
    • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto II”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
      Her alablaster brest she soft did kis, / Which all that while shee felt to pant and quake, / As it an Earth-quake were: at last she thus bespake.
    • 2006, Declan Walsh, The Guardian, 6 Oct 2006:
      Last year's earthquake crushed his house, his livelihood and very nearly his leg, he said, pointing to a plastered limb that refuses to heal.
  2. (planetary geology) Such a quake specifically occurring on the planet Earth, as opposed to other celestial bodies. [from 20th c.]
    • 1988, Jürgen Oberst and Yosio Nakamura, “A seismic risk for the lunar base” in The Second Conference on Lunar Bases and Space Activities of the 21st Century, Vol. 1, p. 231-233, NASA:
      Since the response of some man-made structures to the ground motion near the epicenter is highly dependent on frequency, a significant difference in potential damage to the structures is expected between earthquakes and moonquakes.
    • 2006, Bruce A. Bolt, Earthquakes, Fifth Edition:
      The wave patterns, too, are strikingly different: The secondary (S) waves and surface waves on lunar seismograms are not generally as clearly defined and distinct as are those of earthquakes.

Synonyms

Template:mid2

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

earthquake (third-person singular simple present earthquakes, present participle earthquaking, simple past and past participle earthquaked)

  1. (intransitive) To undergo an earthquake.
    • 1993, Gyeorgos C. Hatonn, The Best of Times: The Worst of Times (page 129)
      Watch the Philippines very closely for the next little while. There is rumbling and earthquaking deep within Pinatubo and increased earthquaking within Mayon.

See also

Further reading

Anagrams

Scots

Etymology

Borrowed from English earthquake; compare yirdquauk.

Noun

earthquake (plural earthquakes)

  1. earthquake
    Synonym: yirdquauk
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