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  1. horripilation love

Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. n. The bristling of the body hair, as from fear or cold; goose bumps.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. n. A contraction of the cutaneous muscles, producing the erection of the hairs and the condition known as cutis anserina or goose-flesh. It is accompanied by a kind of creeping sensation in the skin, and may be produced by cold, peculiar and sudden emotions, such as fear, or certain nervous affections.

Wiktionary

  1. n. A real or fancied bristling of the hair of the head or body, resulting from disease, terror, chilliness, etc.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. n. (Med.) A real or fancied bristling of the hair of the head or body, resulting from disease, terror, chilliness, etc.

WordNet 3.0

  1. n. reflex erection of hairs of the skin in response to cold or emotional stress or skin irritation

Etymologies

  1. Late Latin horripilātiō, horripilātiōn-, from Latin horripilātus, past participle of horripilāre, to bristle with hairs : horrēre, to tremble + pilāre, to grow hair (from pilus, hair). (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

Examples

  • “[FN#1] This "horripilation," for which we have the poetical term”

    Arabian nights. English

  • “What a glorious, delicious, chocolate-rich meaningful word is horripilation!”

    Horripilation

  • “When Jamrkan heard these words, the ears of his heart were opened; his skin shuddered with horripilation and he said, O my lord, what shall I say that”

    The Book of The Thousand Nights And A Night

  • “And the haunting melody of Lara's theme, Maurice Jarre's ‎ superb composition that runs like a unifying thread through every scene, inspires ‎ horripilation even as we recall the notes! ‎”

    Lara's Theme

  • “Whether EL ORFANATO will live up to my admittedly high expectations and do the sack-face spook subgenre proud remains to be seen... but it's got all the indications of having ballistic horripilation power.”

    Bag your face!

  • “My cow-orker Jason Schultz reports on a breaking new DMCA horripilation: a court has ordered a company to stop fixing tape-drives because in so doing, it makes unauthorized access of a copyrighted "Maintenance Code.”

    Boing Boing: July 4, 2004 - July 10, 2004 Archives

  • “Barbarians in turn, and pressed their thumbs; then he rubbed it on his garment, for their viscous skin gave a rude, soft impression to the touch, a greasy tingling which induced horripilation.”

    Salammbo

  • “Gord felt the hair on the back of his neck rise In horripilation at the nearness of the ray.”

    Night Arrant

  • “The whole company were in a state of horripilation.”

    The Silver Lining A Guernsey Story

  • “And the monarch, on beholding that damsel, became surprised, and his raptures produced instant horripilation.”

    The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, Volume 1 Books 1, 2 and 3

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synonyms (5)

Words with the same meaning

  1. pilomotor reflex
  1. goose skin
  1. goose pimples
  1. goose flesh
  1. goose bumps

hypernyms (8)

Words that are more generic or abstract

  1. reflex action
  1. reflex response
  1. physiological reaction
  1. instinctive reflex
  1. inborn reflex
  1. reflex
  1. unconditioned reflex
  1. innate reflex

reverse dictionary (2)

Words that contain this word in their definition

  1. gooseflesh
  1. horripilate

tags (3)

Free-form, user-generated categorization

  1. fear
  1. body
  1. cvccvcvcvcvvc

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Comments

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  • jmjarmstrong JM in researching the word 'horripilation' discovered something that was so awfully, dreadfully, frightful that it made his hair stand on end. Feb 1, 2009

  • yarb ...a sense of horripilation, his hair prickling along his scalp...

    - Malcolm Lowry, October Ferry to Gabriola Jul 30, 2008

  • asativum And yet, when you think of the bumps on the cold, plucked skin of a dressed goose, it's maybe a little less sweet.

    Goose sure is tasty, though. Jan 27, 2008

  • brusselsprouts Completely hideous word for goosebumps.

    Goosebumps is so much sweeter. Although now I think about it...a bumping goose? Wtf? Jan 27, 2008

  • trivet The bristling of the body hair, as from fear or cold; goose bumps.

    (Late Latin horripilti, horripiltin, to bristle with hairs : horrre, to tremble + pilre, to grow hair (from pilus, hair).) Sep 23, 2007

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‘horripilation’ has been looked up 2529 times, loved by 5 people, added to 44 lists, commented on 5 times, and has a Scrabble score of 18.