Fleshquake

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A tremor or quiver of the body.

    "Not he! beadles don't smile in public life, only when out of uniform; and as to using a handkerchief, he could not do that, unless compelled by such a fleshquake or sneeze as now shakes Mr Purkis's frame, caused by that sooty dust that pervades the church and not by damp."

Example

More examples

"Not he! beadles don't smile in public life, only when out of uniform; and as to using a handkerchief, he could not do that, unless compelled by such a fleshquake or sneeze as now shakes Mr Purkis's frame, caused by that sooty dust that pervades the church and not by damp."

Etymology

From flesh + quake.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.