Friday, September 24, 2010

jactation

jactation \jak-TEY-shuhn\, noun:

1. A restless tossing of the body.
2. Boasting; bragging.

As Denis sat alone in the silent, cabined space of his compartment, tossed this way and that by the jactation, he felt suddenly that the grinding wheels of the train spoke to him.
-- A. J. Cronin, Hatter's Castle

There are crises of convulsions, violent shouting, loud weeping, violent jactation, fainting, and semi-coma.
-- William Gilman Thompson, The occupational diseases: their causation, symptoms, treatment and prevention

Jactation derives from the Latin jactatare, "to throw."

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