different between startle vs shocker

English

Etymology

From Middle English startlen, stertlen, stertyllen (“to rush, stumble along”), from Old English steartlian (“to kick with the foot, struggle, stumble”), equivalent to start +? -le. Cognate with Old Norse stirtla (“to hobble, stagger”), Icelandic stirtla (“to straighten up, erect”). Compare also Middle English stertil (“hasty”). More at start.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?st??t(?)l/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?st??t(?)l/
• Rhymes: -??(?)t?l

Verb

startle (third-person singular simple present startles, present participle startling, simple past and past participle startled)

1. (intransitive) To move suddenly, or be excited, on feeling alarm; to start.

   • Why shrinks the soul / Back on herself, and startles at destruction?

2. (transitive) To excite by sudden alarm, surprise, or apprehension; to frighten suddenly and not seriously; to alarm; to surprise.

   • The supposition, at least, that angels do sometimes assume bodies need not startle us.

   • 1896, Joseph Conrad, "An Outcast of the Islands"

     Nothing could startle her, make her scold or make her cry. She did not complain, she did not rebel.
3. (transitive, obsolete) To deter; to cause to deviate.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Clarendon to this entry?)

Synonyms

• (to move suddenly): start
• (to excite suddenly): alarm, frighten, scare, surprise
• (deter): deter

Derived terms

• startling

Translations

Noun

startle (plural startles)

1. A sudden motion or shock caused by an unexpected alarm, surprise, or apprehension of danger.

Derived terms

• startler
• startlish

Translations

See also

• skittish

Anagrams

• Slatter, Stalter, Statler, rattles, slatter, starlet

English

Etymology

shock +? -er

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /???k?/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /???k?/
• Rhymes: -?k?(?)

Noun

shocker (plural shockers)

1. (colloquial) One who or that which shocks or startles.

   The election results were a real shocker.

2. A device for giving electric shocks.
   • 2004, Nintendo EAD, Pikmin 2, Nintendo (Treasure Hoard: Shock Therapist):

   • 2007, David W. Thompson, A Stranger's Journey (page 87)

     Recently, the family decided that some obedience training would be of great value. The cost of doggie school being what it is, my daughter opted to purchase a shocker collar instead.

3. (slang, vulgar, colloquial) A particular hand gesture with a sexual connotation.
4. (slang, vulgar, colloquial) Sexual act related to the shocker hand gesture: two in the pink, one in the stink.

Translations

Anagrams

• Kochers, chokers