Other forms: convulsed, convulsing, convulses
To convulse is to shake violently with sudden uncontrolled movement. The body does it without permission.
The medical sense is precise, since a convulsion is a seizure, and convulsing is what a body does during one. The noun is used far more than the verb in that context. There is a figurative sense about laughter, since being convulsed with laughter means shaking helplessly, and it is one of the few cheerful uses. Countries convulse too, meaning they are thrown into violent upheaval.
A convulsion is a wrenching. Latin convellō meant to pluck up or dislocate, com, together, plus vellō, to pull, so the body is being tugged apart rather than merely shaken.
Latin
convulsus
English, today
convulse
Built from
From Latin convulsus, past participle of convello (“to pluck up, dislocate, convulse”), from com- (“together”) + vello (“to pluck, pull”). a doublet of convel.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA
Practised in A Man Called Ove, A Song of Ice and Fire
First appears in chapter 15 of A Man Called Ove.
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