v. rare. [f. ppl. stem of L. trepidāre to hurry, bustle, be agitated or alarmed. Cf. OF. trepider (14th c. in Godef.).] intr. To tremble with fear or agitation; also simply, † To shake, be agitated (obs.).
1623. Cockeram, Trepidate, to tremble for feare.
1653. R. G., trans. Bacon’s Hist. Winds, 364. Let the eighteenth Motion be the Motion of Trepidation, to which (as is understood by Astronomers) we give no great credit…. In which bodies being not altogether well placed … doe trepidate or agitate continually.
a. 1774. Tucker, Lt. Nat. (1834), II. 126. Vanity … insinuates among our pores,… trepidates through the nerves,… and runs throughout the whole constitution.
1854. Fraser’s Mag., L. 355. A thing which causes our mind to trepidate with quaking fear.
Hence Trepidating ppl. a.
a. 1774. Tucker, Lt. Nat. (1834), II. 620. A calm and steady alertness … never anxious nor trepidating.
1866. J. B. Rose, trans. Ovid’s Met. 202. The flush of pain And panting breath, and trepidating vein.
