[a. F. tremblement (15th c. in Godef.), f. trembler to TREMBLE: see -MENT.]
1. The action or condition of trembling (lit. and fig.); vibration, agitation; also, an instance of this, a tremor.
1677. Gale, Crt. Gentiles, II. IV. 147. It is … vapors within the bowels of the earth, raised up by subterraneous fires that cause Earthquakes and Tremblements.
1844. Mrs. Browning, Lost Bower, iv. The wood … Thrills in leafy tremblement.
1867. Jean Ingelow, Christ’s Resurrect., xvii. The waiting world doth quake with mortal tremblement.
2. A cause of trembling; a terror. rare.
1677. Gale, Crt. Gentiles, II. IV. 131. Some read it thus, ‘Ephraim was a tremblement to him that heard him,’ i. e. so long as he kept close to God he was formidable to al his enemies.
1895. Daily News, 27 May, 8/3. Italian villains, pirate marquises, ‘and almost every possible tremblement’—fierce wars and faithful loves—do moralise his song.
