Also 7 ioult. [See prec.]
† 1. A knock (of the head, etc.) against something. Obs. rare.
1599. Minsheu, Sp. Dict., Coxorrón,… iolts of the head against the wall.
1618. Holyday, Juvenal, ii. 22. He … Who Mars his shields, staid with close thong, oft bears With jolts and sweat.
2. An abrupt shock or jerk that throws a person (or thing) up, to fall again by his (or its) own weight; esp. one received by a moving vehicle, or by a person driving or riding on a rough road.
1632. Sherwood, Cotgr., The ioult of a coach in vneuen way.
1688. Evelyn, Diary, 12 Feb. My daughter Evelyn going in the coach … a jolt (the doore being not fast shut) Hung her quite out.
1763. Wilkes, Corr. (1805), II. 33. My wound has been a good deal fretted by the vile jolts through the rascally towns of Stroud, Rochester, Chatham, &c.
1876. Lowell, Among my Bks., Ser. II. 135. A series of jolts and jars, proving that the language had run off the track.
3. A jerky movement, an abrupt jerk.
1849. H. Mayo, Pop. Superst. (1851), 124. The exercise commonly began in the head, which would fly backwards and forwards, and from side to side, with a quick jolt.
