Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

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

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A contraction of the cutaneous muscles, producing the erection of the hairs and the condition known as cutis anserina or goose-flesh.

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

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

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

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

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun reflex erection of hairs of the skin in response to cold or emotional stress or skin irritation

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[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).]

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Examples

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

    Arabian nights. English Anonymous 1855

  • 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 2006

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

    Archive 2008-11-01 Glenda Larke 2008

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

    Horripilation Glenda Larke 2008

  • 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 2007

  • 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! Arbogast 2007

  • 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 2004

  • 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 2003

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

    Night Arrant Gygax, Gary 1987

  • The whole company were in a state of horripilation.

    The Silver Lining A Guernsey Story John Roussel

Comments

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  • 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).)

    September 23, 2007

  • Completely hideous word for goosebumps.

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

    January 27, 2008

  • 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.

    January 27, 2008

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

    - Malcolm Lowry, October Ferry to Gabriola

    July 30, 2008

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

    February 1, 2009

  • A horror flick’s tricky manipulation

    Will interweave fear and titillation.

    The body is stirred

    By pleasures inferred

    And chilled to a lovely horripilation.

    March 21, 2019