▪ I. trembling, vbl. n.
(ˈtrɛmblɪŋ)
[f. tremble v. + -ing1.]
The action of the verb tremble in various senses; in quot. 1902, spec. ague in sheep (see tremble n. 2).
| 1303 R. Brunne Handl. Synne 4912 Ȝyf he lerne gylerye Fals wurde and feynt trenlyng [v.r. tremlynge]. 1382 Wyclif Eph. vi. 5 Seruauntis, obeysche ȝe to fleishly lordis with drede and tremblyng, in symplenesse of ȝoure herte, as to Crist. c 1400 Song Roland 54 Trymlinge of tabers And tymbring soft. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 501/2 Tremelynge, or qwakynge, tremor. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 112 b, Transformynge our gesture or countenaunce, as in tremblynge. 1647 H. More Song of Soul ii. App. iv, All my spirits move with pleasant trembeling. 1693 Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) III. 25 A ship from Jamaica brings that the earth there had some tremblings again. 1809–10 Coleridge Friend (1865) 2 At the sound of the word trembling came upon me. 1902 N. Munro in Blackw. Mag. Nov. 602/2 Sheep has been lost by the trembling. |
b. attrib., as
trembling fit;
† trembling-stop, a tremolo organ-stop.
| 1659 J. Leak Waterwks. 34 The Systemes and Measures of the Organ Pipes,..also of the manner of the Registers,..the Trembling stop, &c. 1856 Kane Arct. Explor. I. xvi. 191 Men..were seized with trembling-fits and short breath. |
▪ II. ˈtrembling, ppl. a. [f. as prec. + -ing2.] a. That trembles, in various senses of the verb.
| a 1400–50 Alexander 4914 (Ashm. MS.) Þe testre trased full of trones with trimballand wingis. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 257 With tremblynge herte and holy fere, thynkyng hym selfe vnworthy to touche that moost holy body. c 1614 Sir W. Mure Dido & æneas i. 269 A contrare blast Doth force his saile against the trembling mast. a 1628 Sir J. Beaumont Bosworth F. 66 Which like a twinkling Star, with trembling Light Sends radiant Lustre through the darksome Air. 1634 Sir T. Herbert Trav. 207 The lookers on incessantly warble out soft trembling Musique. 1797 Mrs. Radcliffe Italian xi, It was delivered in..low and trembling accents. 1877 Froude Short Stud. (1883) IV. i. x. 122 [He] let in the trembling wretches who had been shut out. |
b. transf. Characterized or accompanied by trembling.
| c 1430 Lydg. Min. Poems, Pater Noster, Atwyxe dred and tremblyng reuerence Astoned I am. 1613 Shakes. Hen. VIII, i. ii. 95 Sixt part of each? A trembling contribution. 1794 Blake Songs Exper., Little Boy Lost 10 In trembling zeal he seized his hair. 1818 Scott Br. Lamm. xxxv, To the butler's trembling entreaties..he at first returned no answer. |
c. In specific applications:
trembling aixies or
exies (
cf. access n. 10), the ague (
Sc.);
trembling beef, some dish of boiled beef (?
obs.);
cf. trembling-piece;
trembling bog, bog-land formed over water or soft mud, which shakes at every tread, a quaking bog; so
trembling prairie, in Louisiana,
U.S.A.;
trembling-chair: see
quot.;
trembling eel, the gymnotus;
trembling-grass, quaking-grass (
Briza media);
trembling-ill, the ague in sheep (
Sc.);
trembling palsy, paralysis characterized by trembling of the extremities or the head (
Syd. Soc. Lex., 1899);
trembling-piece [F.
pièce tremblante], a joint of beef so interlarded with fat as to quiver;
trembling-poplar, the Aspen,
Populus tremula, also the N. American
P. tremuloides.
| 1808–18 Jamieson, Trembling Fevers, the ague, Ang. *Trembling Aixes [ed. 1825 Exies]. 1818 Scott Br. Lamm. xi, The cookmaid in the trembling exies. |
| 1806 A. Hunter Culina (ed. 3) 238 *Trembling Beef. Take a brisket of beef, and boil it gently [etc.]. |
| 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iii. 653 He lives on standing Lakes, and *trembling Bogs. |
| 1899 Syd. Soc. Lex., *Trembling chair, a vibrating chair used in the treatment of paralysis. |
| 1807 Joyce Sci. Dialogues xvi. (1846) 397 (Electricity) In Firmin's ‘Natural History of Surinam’ is some account of the *trembling eel. |
| 1853 G. Johnston Bot. E. Bord. 216 Briza media, *Trembling-grass: Quaking-grass. |
| 1833 Wilson Fr. & Eng. Dict. s.v. Tremblant, *Trembling-piece. |
| 1731 P. Miller Gardeners Dict. s.v. Populus. The *Trembling Poplar, or Aspen-Tree. 1861 Miss Pratt Flower. Pl. V. 120 (Aspen, or Trembling Poplar)..is a middle-sized tree. |