Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To move or dislodge with a sudden, hard blow; strike heavily or jarringly: jolted his opponent with a heavy punch; an impact that jolted the mailbox loose.
- v. To cause to move jerkily: stops and starts that jolted the passengers.
- v. To put into a specified condition by or as if by a blow: "Now and then he jolted a nodding reader awake by inserting a witty paragraph” ( Walter Blair).
- v. To make suddenly active or effective: The remark jolted my memory.
- v. To disturb suddenly and severely; stun: She was jolted by the betrayal of her trusted friend.
- v. To proceed in an irregular, bumpy, or jerky fashion.
- n. A sudden jarring or jerking, as from a heavy blow or an abrupt movement. See Synonyms at collision.
- n. A sudden, strong feeling of surprise or disappointment; a shock.
- n. The cause of such a feeling: The news came as a jolt.
- n. A brief strong portion: a jolt of electricity; a jolt of whiskey.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To shake with sudden jerks, as in a carriage on rough ground, or on a high-trotting horse.
- To move with short, abrupt risings and fallings, as a carriage on rough ground; have a shaking or jerking motion.
- n. A shock or shake by a sudden jerk, as in a carriage.
- n. plural Cabbage-plants that in the spring go to seed prematurely.
- n. Synonyms Collision, Concussion, etc. See shock.
Wiktionary
- v. transitive To push or shake abruptly and roughly.
- v. transitive To knock sharply; to deal a blow to.
- v. transitive To shock (someone) into taking action or being alert; as, to jolt someone out of complacency
- v. transitive To shock emotionally.
- v. intransitive To shake; to move with a series of jerks.
- n. An act of jolting.
- n. A surprise or shock.
- n. slang A long prison sentence.
- n. slang A narcotic injection.
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. To shake with short, abrupt risings and fallings, as a carriage moving on rough ground.
- v. To cause to move with a sudden motion, especially an up and down motion, as in a carriage going over rough ground, or on a high-trotting horse
- v. To stun or shock a person physically, as with a blow or electrical shock.
- v. To stun or shock or change the mental state of (a person) suddenly, as if with a blow.
- n. A sudden shock or jerk; a jolting motion, as in a carriage moving over rough ground.
- n. A physical or psychological shock; see jolt v. t. senses 2 and 3.
- n. Something which causes a jolt{2}.
WordNet 3.0
- v. move or cause to move with a sudden jerky motion
- v. disturb (someone's) composure
- n. a sudden jarring impact
- n. an abrupt spasmodic movement
Etymologies
- Maybe from Middle English jollen. (Wiktionary)
- Origin unknown. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“He had come to the decision that Ruth needed what he called a jolt to bring her to herself, much as a sleep-walker is aroused by the touch of”
“Such jobs cannot be created by a short-term jolt of government spending, or by cutting government investments in education, science, technology, and infrastructure.”
The Huffington Post: Jeffrey Sachs: A New Direction for American Economic Policy
“Japan may have provided a short-term jolt to uranium prices, but the new generation of nuclear plants slated for the world's fastest growing economies is still intact.”
The Wall Street Journal: Chinese Demand Rides to Uranium's Rescue
“His six-inch jolt is more the real sleep medicine than the full-arm swing of most geezers.”
“The tax cuts could provide a short-term jolt to the economy, painting a rosier picture of the U.S. recovery, though they are still not a done deal.”
“The latest jolt from the defending Eastern Conference champions came Wednesday night in a 5-3 victory.”
“Temporary but critical assistance giving a short-term jolt for a long-term gain.”
Jeff Schweitzer: The Consequences of Short-Term Thinking: Part II
“Jason Dickerson, a budget analyst for California's Legislative Analyst's Office, said the postponement of income-tax refunds means local retailers and businesses won't receive the expected annual short-term jolt of cash.”
The Wall Street Journal: California to Delay $4 Billion in Payments
“He's the president for everyone and as Bill said earlier, in terms of how they sold it, I remember the word jolt being used.”
“The investments in technology infrastructure would fit in with Speaker Pelosi's determination that the spending package not only gives the ailing U.S. economy a short-term jolt, but also pays dividends over the longer term, the aide said.”
The Wall Street Journal: Stimulus Plan to Include Internet-Access Funds
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘jolt’.
-
Fight scene words
Great words to teach you how to write a fight scene - and for those writers who want to get the old gears of the mind cranking, here's a few fight scene tips to get you started - this is NOT by me,...
Slam, Sidestep, Evade, Roundhouse, Momentum, Counter, Clip, Feeding Frenzy, Advance, Cuff, Ambush, Nimbly and 261 more...
-
Artistic words
Good for poetry, or just artistic on their own.
fluxus, gallant, kinetic, lurk, disengage, mist, agleam, voyeur, devoid, crimson, ebony, azure and 94 more...
-
SMILE and other emotive verbs
Single verbs that describe expression or emotional reaction. "He __ed" (smiled/gulped/scoffed...)
smile, beam, sneer, scoff, giggle, laugh, snigger, scowl, grin, leer, wince, grimace and 97 more...
-
Public List: Two by Fives
This is an experiment in public lists--something I've been thinking about for some time. The goal is to create a collection of short, powerful, evocative words.
This is an open list. A...icy, howl, hymn, thorn, fire, vile, mist, blunt, scum, dark, shot, gleam and 221 more...
-
The Secret Garden
sickly, fretful, toddle, cross, stammer, manor, slink, grind, disdain, imploringly, wring, wailing and 30 more...
-
D_Verbatim
sporadic, peculiar, treacherous, niche, ambiance, ruckus, notion, voyeurism, exclusion, proselytize, opaque, perverse and 13 more...
-
Words from books I've read
These are some words I didn't know when I read and now I want to know!
Scribble, Newfangled, swift, swathe, budget, obstreperous, trickle, rank, covetous, scratch, hunch, dodge and 179 more...
-
Scrabble words which start with the l...
juvenile, juvenal, jutty, jute, jut, justness, justly, justle, justify, justice, juster, just and 534 more...
-
What's That Pokémon Name?
Words used to create the names of Pokémon, which are usually portmanteaux.
bulb, dinosaur, ivy, venus, char, salamander, squirt, turtle, blast, tortoise, water, caterpillar and 525 more...
-
wakcy's Words
apocalypse, interlude, drome, absolution, atrocity, ruse, pristine, mason, reparable, deteriorate, pyramid, hipster and 283 more...
-
Really Cool Four-Letter Words
I marvel at the amazing variety of four-letter words in the English language. And that's not even counting really common (to me) words like fuck.
ibis, pelf, sofa, iota, oboe, lava, icon, sped, puha, pulp, puma, kyat and 150 more...
-
SoSheShall's list
slurp, coeur, slurple, glop, perp, fluarxx, ropechno, herrherr, burrduhherrherr, sloppy, cheezie balls, eccentric and 634 more...
-
newGRE
mostly from magoosh
imbue, verge on, nonchalant, deliberate, timorous, futile, provisional, dissect, checked, tinged, alluring, visionary and 1046 more...
-
Twitchy
The (not always so) smoovements; scattered, oscillating, jerky, and unpredictable.
palpitation, scravel, jactitate, pounce, wobble, vibrate, undulate, didder, effleurage, flail, ague, swerve and 169 more...
-
amy's GRE 2012
gimmicks, kowtow, unpretentious, skeptical, cynical, somber, prevaricate, equivocate, requisite, embellish, impregnable, procrastinate and 307 more...
-
stpeter's Words
abase, abasement, abashed, abdicate, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abhorrent, abide, abject, ablation, abnegation and 3536 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for jolt.

reesetee Almost onomatopoeic. Dec 19, 2007