startle

Pronunciation: /ˈstɑːt(ə)l/

The English word “startle” has 4 meanings listed here.

verb

To move suddenly, or be excited, on feeling alarm; to start.
To excite by sudden alarm, surprise, or apprehension; to frighten suddenly and not seriously; to alarm; to surprise.
To deter; to cause to deviate.

noun

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

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.

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.