Tremulates

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Moves back and forth rapidly in small oscillations, creating a trembling or shaking effect
2. Shakes or vibrates with quick repeated movements in a wavering manner
3. Quivers with fine rapid motions, producing a tremulous or fluttering appearance

Etymology: "Tremulates" is the third-person singular present form of "tremulate," so the history belongs to the verb itself. The verb is a back-formation from "tremulation," meaning that speakers took the existing noun and carved a new verb out of it, reversing the usual direction in which verbs give rise to nouns. "Tremulation," the noun it grew from, describes a trembling or quivering motion. The sense of the verb, a wavering, rapid shaking, follows from its noun, and the verb is a fairly specialized word, most at home in technical or literary writing, where a writer wants a more precise word for a fine, repeated tremor than "shake" or "vibrate" provides.