Pronunciation Noun
earthquake (plural earthquakes)
- A shaking of the ground, caused by volcanic activity or movement around geologic faults. [from 14th c.]
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.2:
- Her alablaster brest she soft did kis, / Which all that while shee felt to pant and quake, / As it an Earth-quake were: at last she thus bespake.
- 2006, Declan Walsh, The Guardian, 6 Oct 2006:
- Last year's earthquake crushed his house, his livelihood and very nearly his leg, he said, pointing to a plastered limb that refuses to heal.
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.2:
- (planetary geology) Such a quake specifically occurring on the planet Earth, as opposed to other celestial bodies. [from 20th c.]
- 1988, Jürgen Oberst and Yosio Nakamura, “A seismic risk for the lunar base” in The Second Conference on Lunar Bases and Space Activities of the 21st Century, Vol. 1, p. 231-233, NASA:
- Since the response of some man-made structures to the ground motion near the epicenter is highly dependent on frequency, a significant difference in potential damage to the structures is expected between earthquakes and moonquakes.
- 1988, Jürgen Oberst and Yosio Nakamura, “A seismic risk for the lunar base” in The Second Conference on Lunar Bases and Space Activities of the 21st Century, Vol. 1, p. 231-233, NASA:
- French: tremblement de terre, séisme
- German: Erdbeben
- Italian: terremoto, sisma, tremuoto (obsolete)
- Portuguese: terramoto, terremoto, tremor
- Russian: землетрясе́ние
- Spanish: terremoto, temblor
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