palsy
/ˈpælzi/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.20 in modern English
10
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
2
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
Complete or partial muscle paralysis of a body part, often accompanied by a loss of feeling and uncontrolled body movements such as shaking.
Countable; Uncountable
verb
To paralyse, either completely or partially.
Example Sentences
- "The palsie plagues my pulses when I prigg yoͬ: piggs or pullen your culuers take, or matchles make your Chanticleare or sullen"
- ""Young lady, there is no hope; one side of the Duchesse is struck with palsy; she retains her senses, and will, most probably, to the last; but she cannot live through the night.""
- ""Ah! now we come to business! Barber, who's dead?" "Alderman Croten, sir." "Tut-tut. Croten gone?" "Yes, sir; palsy took him at a ripe age. And Abel's gone, the Town Crier;""
- "Again we were stricken of our palsy, slowed down, re-accelerated, and there, at last, were the few huts of a hamlet, with the lorry, lying at an angle in the road's camber, outside a tea-shop."
- "1831, William Lloyd Garrison, The Liberator, To The Public http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4h2928t.html In the month of August, I issued proposals for publishing "THE LIBERATOR" in Washington city; but the enterprise, though hailed in different sections of the country, was palsied by public indifference."
- "Its streets were blocked up with snow - the few passengers seemed palsied with snow, and frozen by the ungenial visitation of winter."
Etymology
From Middle English palesie, from Anglo-Norman paralisie, parleisie et al., from Latin paralysis, from Ancient Greek παράλυσις (parálusis, “palsy”), from παραλύω (paralúō, “to disable on one side”), from παρα- (para-, “beside”) + λύω (lúō, “loosen”). Doublet of paralysis.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- British English: /ˈpælzi/
Usage
Inflected Forms
palsies (plural)
palsie (alternative, obsolete)
palsies (present, singular)
palsying (participle, present)
palsied (participle, past)
palsied (past)
more palsy (comparative)
most palsy (superlative)