Dictionary

horripilate en · VERB

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• /hɒˈɹɪpɪˌleɪt/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• /hɔˈɹɪpəˌleɪt/ (General-American)

Etymology

From Late Latin horripilātus, perfect passive participle of horripilō (“(of hairs) to bristle”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), from horreō (“to bristle, shiver, dread”) + pilus (“hair”) + -ō (first conjugation verb-forming suffix), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰers- (“to bristle”).

Meanings

1. (ambitransitive) To bristle in fear or horror; to have goose bumps or goose pimples.
   • Phadampa Sangye gives us a brief characterization of the cremation grounds and the lands surrounding them in the introductory passage to Diamond-Songs of the Adepts, calling it "a region difficult for humans to travel, a village where ghouls and zombies wander, a place where the inhuman of the earth wander, the place of the action ḍākinīs, [where] Death's hair horripilates and the demons are dread-filled upon sight of it." 2005, Kurtis R. Schaeffer, “Creating the Treasury of Dohā Verses”, in Dreaming the Great Brahmin: Tibetan Traditions of the Buddhist Poet-Saint Saraha, New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 91:
   • Another volume of ghost stories by Mrs. [Catherine] Crowe!—as grim and horrifying as the "Night Side of Nature," which sends one to bed with a shudder, and lends an awful deliberation to the act of putting out the candle. These pages would literally be frightful if they were not at the same time fascinating. You never know at what turn in the narrative to look for the sudden bit of description, which is to thrill the nerves and horripilate the forehead. 1859 February 12, “Ghosts and Family Legends. By Mrs. Crowe, Authoress of the ‘Night Side of Nature.’ (Newby.)”, in The Literary Gazette: A Weekly Journal of Literature, Science, Art, and General Information, volume II, number 33 (New Series), London: Published at the office, 4, Bouverie Street, Fleet Street, →OCLC, page 206, column 3:
   • When Hel shrugged and changed the subject diplomatically, the nape of Diamond's neck horripilated with embarrassment. 1979, Trevanian [pseudonym; Rodney William Whitaker], Shibumi, New York, N.Y.: Crown Publishers; republished as Shibumi: A Novel, New York, N.Y.: Three Rivers Press, 2005, page 330
   • A cold wind had blown through his seven-year-old skin, bringing with it the age of reason, thrilling his bones, horripilating its way up his spine. 1998, Richard Dooling, chapter 26, in Brain Storm, New York, N.Y.: Random House, →ISBN:
   • Miraculously, when he returned, […] no one had stolen, broken into, or vandalized the Saab: there it sat in all its silver magnificence on a lousy street in a rotten neighborhood, rainwater horripilating its voluptuous skin. 1998, James Kaplan, chapter 17, in Two Guys from Verona: A Novel of Suburbia, New York, N.Y.: Grove Press, →ISBN, pages 155–156:

Forms

Deriveds

horripilation · horripilant · horriplilatingly · horripilated · horripilating

Relateds

pilomotor reflex

Synonyms

goose skin · have one's hair stand on end · perscopate · have goose flesh

Translations (1)

de gruseln (to bristle in fear or horror)