judder

Jul. 22nd, 2021 07:46 am
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[personal profile] prettygoodword
judder (JUHD-er) - v., to shake intensely or spasmodically. n., a rapid or spasmodic shaking.


Chiefly British usage per the dictionaries, but I've heard it enough in the wild here in the States -- often as "to judder to a stop" -- to note that rather include it in the entry. I associate it, with no good reason, with the motion of machines seizing up. Dates to the early 1930s, and is assumed to be a combination of j(olt) or perhaps j(erk) + (sh)udder, but there's no direct evidence.

---L.

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