PALPITATING

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does palpitating mean? 

• PALPITATING (adjective)
  The adjective PALPITATING has 1 sense:

1. having a slight and rapid trembling motion

  Familiarity information: PALPITATING used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PALPITATING (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Having a slight and rapid trembling motion

Synonyms:

palpitant; palpitating

Context example:

my palpitating heart

Similar:

unsteady (subject to change or variation)

 Context examples 

I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He waved his hand to the sofa, and our palpitating visitor with his agitated companion sat side by side upon it.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Everybody was satisfied; and she was left to the tremors of a most palpitating heart, while the others prepared to begin.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

At such times she cocked both triggers of the gun, prepared to meet him with leaden death if he should burst loose, herself trembling and palpitating and dizzy from the tension and shock.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

His waxen hue became greenish-yellow by the contrast of his burning eyes, and the red scar on the forehead showed on the pallid skin like a palpitating wound.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Into this shop, which was low and small, and which was darkened rather than lighted by a little window, overhung with clothes, and was descended into by some steps, I went with a palpitating heart; which was not relieved when an ugly old man, with the lower part of his face all covered with a stubbly grey beard, rushed out of a dirty den behind it, and seized me by the hair of my head.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

The sand-banks far out were spotted with uncouth crawling forms, huge turtles, strange saurians, and one great flat creature like a writhing, palpitating mat of black greasy leather, which flopped its way slowly to the lake.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

As it opened there came a tumultuous rush into the hall, rapid feet clattered up the stair, and an instant later a wild-eyed and frantic young man, pale, disheveled, and palpitating, burst into the room.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

‘Death,’ said he, and rising from the table he retired to his room, leaving me palpitating with horror.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)