English

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

1. • 1749, John Cleland, Fanny Hill: Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure, Part 4

     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

   • 1905, Baroness Emmuska Orczy, chapter 2, in The Tremarn Case:

     “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

Italian

Verb

palpitate

1. second-person plural present indicative of palpitare
2. second-person plural imperative of palpitare
3. feminine plural of palpitato

Latin

Verb

palpitāte

1. second-person plural present active imperative of palpitō