jolt
Appearance
English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Perhaps from Middle English jollen (“to stagger, knock, batter”), itself perhaps a variant of Middle English chollen (“to strike, juggle, do tricks”).
Pronunciation
[edit]- (UK) IPA(key): /d͡ʒɒlt/, /d͡ʒəʊlt/
- (General American) IPA(key): /d͡ʒoʊlt/
Audio (US): (file) Audio: (file) - Rhymes: -ɒlt, -əʊlt
Verb
[edit]jolt (third-person singular simple present jolts, present participle jolting, simple past and past participle jolted)
- (transitive) To push or shake abruptly and roughly.
- The bus jolted its passengers at every turn.
- (transitive) To knock sharply
- (transitive) To shock (someone) into taking action or being alert
- I jolted her out of complacency.
- (transitive) To shock emotionally.
- Her untimely death jolted us all.
- (intransitive) To shake; to move with a series of jerks.
- The car jolted along the stony path.
Derived terms
[edit]Translations
[edit]to push or shake
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to deal a blow to
to shock into taking action
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to shock emotionally
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to shake, move with a series of jerks
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Noun
[edit]jolt (plural jolts)
- An act of jolting.
- A surprise or shock.
- (slang) A long prison sentence.[1]
- 1949, American Journal of Correction[1], page 24:
- Just sit down and look around for a while. Notice your cell, John. Take a good look at it, because it is going to be your home for the next ten years. Sure! You have just gotten a ten-year "jolt," John; so settle down and be a good prisoner.
- 1958, Nelson Algren, A Walk on the Wild Side, page 312:
- But blow wise to this, buddy, blow wise to this: Never play cards with a man called Doc. Never eat at a place called Mom's. Never sleep with a woman whose troubles are worse than your own. Never let nobody talk you into shaking another man's jolt. And never you cop another man's plea. I've tried 'em all and I know. They don't work.
- 1994, Eric Cummins, The Rise and Fall of California's Radical Prison Movement[2], page 30:
- After three "jolts" in prison, three separate periods of incarceration, Braly decided to try his hand at writing.
- 1998, H. Bruce Franklin, editor, Prison Writing in 20th-Century America[3]:
- "How long did she do after I left the joint" / "About a year or so. They wanted to parole her. […] " Mae wrinkled her forehead. “It's hard to figure out, sometimes.” Again she frowned heavily. “I don't give a damn myself—I'm a thief, and nothing they can ever do will hurt me. But Mrs. Loring, now, she was different. That jolt did hurt her bad. […] "
- (slang) A narcotic injection.
Coordinate terms
[edit]- (prison sentence): bit
Translations
[edit]an act of jolting
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a surprise or shock
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a long prison sentence
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References
[edit]- ^ Eric Partridge (1949) “jolt”, in A Dictionary of the Underworld, London: Macmillan Co., page 371
Categories:
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio pronunciation
- Rhymes:English/ɒlt
- Rhymes:English/əʊlt
- Rhymes:English/əʊlt/1 syllable
- English lemmas
- English verbs
- English transitive verbs
- English terms with usage examples
- English intransitive verbs
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English slang
- English terms with quotations