earthquaken.

a1350 in Archiv f. das Studium der Neueren Sprachen (1911) 127 45 (MED) Þe erþe quaque.

c1390 in C. Brown Relig. Lyrics 14th Cent. (1924) 188 Þe Pestilens and þe eorþe-quake, Beo-tokenes þe grete vengaunce & wrake Þat schulde falle for synnes sake.

a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Trin. Cambr.) l. 20499 (MED) An erþequake [Vesp. erth-din] coom þat shoke Alle þinge.

?a1475 (?a1425) tr. R. Higden Polychron. (Harl. 2261) (1871) III. 305 As þro an erthe qwake.

a1522 G. Douglas tr. Virgil Æneid (1959) viii. iv. 133 By fors of thundyr, or erdquake with a clap.

1550 T. Nicolls tr. Thucydides Hist. Peloponnesian War iii. xiii. f.xcii Of the whyche alluuyons and ouerflowynges the Eearthquakes [sic] (as I thynke) were the cause.

1582 R. Stanyhurst tr. Virgil First Foure Bookes Æneis iii. 47 Thee doors, thee laurel, thee mount with terribil earth quake Doo totter shiuering.

1625 N. Carpenter Geogr. Delineated ii. ix. 156 After an Earth-quake many new springs..discouered themselues.

1658 Sir T. Browne Hydriotaphia: Urne-buriall iii. 35 The undated ruines of windes, flouds or earthquakes.

1719 D. Defoe Life Robinson Crusoe 93 I plainly saw it was a terrible Earthquake, for the Ground I stood on shook three Times at about eight Minutes Distance.

1750 D. Hume Let. 18 Apr. (1932) I. 142 The Ladies were so frightened that they took the Rattling of every Coach for an Earthquake.

1822 P. B. Shelley Hellas 5 All its banded anarchs fled, Like vultures frighted..Before an earthquake's tread.

1832 W. Macgillivray Trav. & Researches A. von Humboldt iii. 52 The Peak of Teneriffe exhibited a lateral burst, preceded by tremendous earthquakes.

1878 T. H. Huxley Physiography (ed. 2) 188 The terrible devastation wrought by the great tidal wave, which followed the earthquake at Lima.

1921 C. Davison Man. Seismol. iii. 45 The Mercalli scale..is suitable for strong earthquakes and is adopted in Italy.

1963 W. E. Harney & D. Lockwood Shady Tree 185 We were..awakened in the dead of night by an earthquake to find the walls falling down around us.

2006 F1 Racing June 122/1 There were no bolts of lightning or earthquakes or other acts of God to compromise Michael's race.

1592 T. Nashe Pierce Penilesse (Huntington Libr. copy) sig. d4^v Gunpowder..shall rattle through the Skyes and make an Earthquake in a Pesants eares.

1641 J. Milton Animadversions 5 Whosoever..so earnestly labours to keep such an incumbring surcharge of earthly things, cannot but have an earth-quake still in his bones.

a1661 T. Fuller Worthies (1662) Westmorl. 141 In this Age, wherein there is an Earthquake of Antient Hospitals.

1754 S. Bowden Poems Var. Subj. 32 When sudden fits of rage the soul inflame, 'Tis a short earthquake in the human frame.

1794 T. Dwight Greenfield Hill i. 20 Fix'd as these firm hills, the shock withstood Of war's convulsing earthquake, unappall'd.

1835 L. Hunt Capt. Sword ii. lviii See where comes the horse-tempest again, Visible earthquake.

1868 J. Bright in Star 14 Mar. This social and political earthquake under which Ireland is heaving.

1927 E. H. Bostock Menageries, Circuses & Theatres vi. 56 My mental earthquake was over.

1955 Peabody Jrnl. Educ. 33 18 Where one finds the gaudy, cheap paper of the comic book, there he may find an emotional earthquake, an impassioned opponent or a sturdy defender.

2006 Spirit of Change Spring 53 Few women are fully prepared for the earthquake of despair, self-doubt, and fear that threatens to swallow them up whole.

1820 P. B. Shelley Prometheus Unbound i. i. 27 New fire From earthquake-rifted mountains of bright snow Shook its portentous hair.

1845 P. J. Bailey Festus (ed. 2) 129 Earthquake-swallowed cities.

1860 J. Ruskin Mod. Painters V. 240 Silent villages, earthquake-shaken..gleam in white ruin.

1896 Westm. Gaz. 18 Jan. 2/2 We do not intend to patronise the earthquake-haunted district.

1907 Daily Chron. 29 Oct. 6/7 The earthquake-smitten region.

1921 D. H. Lawrence Sea & Sardinia 25 Oh horrible Messina, earthquake-shattered.

1975 Wildlife Soc. Bull. 3 35/2 A former volunteer in Chile who was later asked to go to Peru to help rehabilitate an earthquake-damaged city.

1995 Oregonian (Portland, Oregon) (Nexis) 5 Oct. 1 Nostalgic residents are reluctant to give up their beloved earthquake-ruined building to the wrecking ball.

1907 Science 23 Aug. 254/2 The great desirability of securing photographs, and if possible maps, of the earthquake faults which were formed there in 1872.

1966 J. Biram tr. A. Wegener Origin Continents & Oceans 199 This idea is strikingly corroborated by the notorious San Francisco earthquake fault of the 18th of April 1906.

1995 Nature 7 Sept. 19/3 The earthquake fault co-seismically reached the area beneath Kobe.

1750 H. Walpole Let. 2 Apr. in Corr. (1960) XX. 137 Several women have made earthquake gowns, that is, warm gowns to sit out of doors all tonight [an earthquake having been predicted].

1884 N.Y. Times 8 June 12/1 Shrewd traders turned it to profitable account by selling earthquake gowns for the women to wear.

1995 Denver Post (Nexis) 3 Mar. e1 Apropos earthquakes, have you heard of an ‘earthquake gown’? It's a warm nightgown that women can wear comfortably—and properly—in public once the house starts rocking and rolling.

1971 Post-Register (Idaho Falls, Idaho) 24 Nov. a10/4 Most seismologists now feel that earthquake lights warrant further investigation and the subject should ‘no longer be swept under the rug’.

2003 New Scientist 5 July 27/1 Red streaks across the sky, like low-lying aurora... Mysterious or not, repeated sightings of earthquake lights confirm their existence.

2006 C. Rutkowski & G. Dittman Canad. UFO Rep. 177 Thinking it may have been an earthquake light, he checked with the Geological Survey of Canada, but no seismic event had occurred around that time.

1970 D. Finkelstein & J. Powell in Nature 21 Nov. 759/1 Earthquake lightning... Earthquakes are often accompanied by ball lightning, stroke lightning and sheet lightning. The only causal connexion that seems possible is that the seismic strains of the earthquake somehow cause an electric field in the air.

1977 Lima (Ohio) News 22 Sept. b10/1 We have accounts of earthquake lightning before, during and after the quakes.

2004 M. Ikeya Earthquakes & Animals ix. 212 The reported malfunctioning of radios, TVs, air-conditioners and intercoms..before the earthquake is consistent with..intense pulsed electric fields such as earthquake lightning.

1882 Nature 6 July 220/1 In relation to their study [of]..seismological movements of the earth's crust as revealed by the microphone..[Di A. V. G. Mocenigo] has devised an earthquake-pendulum-microphone.

1816 J. S. Walker South Amer. 111 The greater part of the houses now built are earthquake proof, being composed entirely of lath-work; or, if of stone and lime, supported inside by strong posts.

1910 Cent. Mag. Aug. 592/1 The use of concrete for earthquake-proof piers, dams, stacks, and houses.

2003 Daily Tel. 28 Aug. 36/1 The earthquake-proof contraption [sc. a back-up power supply for a city] contains 13,760 Nicad cells.

1934 Fresno (Calif.) Bee 18 Aug. 7 a/5 The blaze might have been started by an acetylene torch or a welding machine left in the building, which was being earthquake proofed.

1995 Denver Post 13 Sept. a13 (caption) The sculpture was removed when the museum closed for construction to earthquake-proof the structure.

1906 Van Wert (Ohio) Daily Bull. 28 Apr. 1/7 (heading) Earthquake proofing.

1931 Appleton (Wisconsin) Post-Crescent 28 Apr. 14/6 Earthquake proofing, Tokyo estimates, raises construction costs one-third But Tokyo expects excellent returns on her tremendous investment in city planning.

1997 Vanity Fair (N.Y.) Apr. 378/3 Five years of program planning, architectural design, and site preparation—including earthquake proofing—passed before construction began.

1922 Bull. Seismol. Soc. Amer. 12 18 This article is not intended as a technical treatise on the details of earthquake resistant construction.

2001 S. Roaf et al. Ecohouse (2002) vi. 131 Almost all existing structures can be strengthened to be more earthquake-resistant (but not earthquake-proof).

1904 Trans. Inst. Mining Engineers 24 648 Only a few weeks of tranquillity intervened before another ‘earthquake-swarm’ visited the same district, but extended this time into the Egerland.

1958 C. F. Richter Elem. Seismol. i. vi. 71 Certain localities are..visited by earthquake swarms, long series of large and small shocks with no one outstanding principal event.

2005 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 13 Mar. v. 17/1 Activity on Dominica has included shallow earthquake swarms associated with movement of magma.

1824 B. Hall Extracts Jrnl. Coasts Chili, Peru, & Mexico I. vii. 302 When the city was to be rebuilt, a more inland situation was chosen, but as it stands at present on low ground, it is questionable whether an earthquake wave of any magnitude might not still reach it.

1878 T. H. Huxley Physiography (ed. 2) 188 An earthquake-wave is a vibration of the solid crust of the earth.

1993 New Scientist 16 Oct. 36/2 Researchers have recently taken to analysing thousands—even millions—of simultaneous earthquake-wave readings at stations around the world.

1783 H. Walpole Let. 4 Apr. (1844) IV. cccxcix. 96 I believe some of your earthquake weather has reached hither; for it has been so warm for these five days.

1896 M. Crommelin Over Andes 195 It is a lovely morning, still and warm as earthquake weather.

1906 Portsmouth (New Hampsh.) Herald 3 May 1/5 It was earthquake weather. Before a disturbance of that nature the atmosphere gives warning, just as it warns New Englanders of storms.

2001 D. Stewart & J. Gendar Fool's Paradise 40 Despite the fact that it is common knowledge that earthquakes have occurred in summer and in winter, in spring and fall, and at every hour of the day or night, regardless of temperature, the belief in this earthquake weather survives.