Other forms: jolted, jolts, jolting
To jolt is to move or shake suddenly and roughly. The train jolted, a jolt of pain, jolted awake.
The movement is a single sharp shake rather than a continuous one, which is what separates it from shaking or vibration. As a noun, a jolt is also a shock that changes how somebody thinks — the news gave him a jolt, a jolt to the system. Note jolting; and that a jolt of caffeine or of electricity uses the same image of a sudden sharp delivery.
1verbjoltTo move or shake suddenly and roughly.
“The bus jolted to a stop, throwing the standing passengers forward.”
2nounshockA sudden shock.
“The sudden news of his illness gave the whole family a jolt.”
jolt is a sudden shake.
The origin is uncertain, perhaps from an old word joll meaning to bump or knock the head. It appears in the sixteenth century with no clear relatives.
Perhaps from joll + -t.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA
Practised in Ways of Moving, Hitting & Pushing