Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Trembling of the heart; fearfulness.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun Trembling of the heart; trepidation; fear.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Trembling of the heart; trepidation; fear.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

heart +‎ quake

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word heartquake.

Examples

  • I've been looking for my little sister Evelyne Jean Francois since the heartquake.

    Looking for loved ones in Haiti 2010

  • The one was that of breath drawn freely, of a respite, a reprieve, a heartquake escaped; for, indeed, she had begun to feel, as she neared the crisis, that the trial might pass her powers of endurance.

    Somehow Good William Frend De Morgan 1878

  • She knew, too, that that heartquake was upon her -- the one she had felt so glad to stave off that day upon the beach -- and that self-command had to be found in an emergency she might not have the strength to meet.

    Somehow Good William Frend De Morgan 1878

  • Demonstrations in support of fact against fancy have been periodical motives of earthquake and heartquake, under the two rigidly incumbent burdens of drifted tradition, which, throughout the history of humanity, during phases of languid thought, cover the vaults of searching fire that must at last try every man's work, what it is.

    On the Old Road Vol. 1 (of 2) A Collection of Miscellaneous Essays and Articles on Art and Literature John Ruskin 1859

  • I rushed to the side of the boat, intending to fling myself on shore; but the wheels, as they began their revolutions, threw a dash of spray over me so cold -- so deadly cold, with the chill that will never leave those waters until Death be drowned in his own river -- that with a shiver and a heartquake I awoke.

    The Celestial Railroad 1846

  • I rushed to the side of the boat, intending to fling myself on shore; but the wheels, as they began their revolutions, threw a dash of spray over me so cold -- so deadly cold, with the chill that will never leave those waters until Death be drowned in his own river -- that with a shiver and a heartquake I awoke.

    Mosses from an Old Manse and other stories Nathaniel Hawthorne 1834

  • All the heartquake in Apple's voice goes down better that way.

    Pitchfork: Latest News 2009

  • And therefore, Miriam, before it is too late, I mean to put faith in this awful heartquake which warns me henceforth to avoid you. "

    The Marble Faun - Volume 1 The Romance of Monte Beni Nathaniel Hawthorne 1834

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • We mock grim death to partake

    In horrors that carnivals make.

    If the danger is faux

    We'll give it a go

    To thrill at a harmless heartquake.

    April 22, 2016

  • This could also be a word you don't want to hear from the mouth of your cardiologisy.

    April 22, 2016

  • A qms tyop is so rare it gives me heartquakes.

    April 25, 2016