a. rare. [f. L. subsult-, pa. ppl. stem of subsilīre (see prec.) + -IVE.] Making or moving by sudden leaps, bounds or starts.
1750. Berkeley, in Gentl. Mag., XX. 167/1. The earth … moved up and down like the boiling of a pot…. This sort of subsultive motion is ever accounted the most dangerous.
1770. Langhorne, Plutarch, Numa, I. 171. The Subsultive dance … which they [the Salii] lead up along the streets, when … they carry the sacred bucklers through the city.
1819. [H. Busk], Vestriad, V. 669. [His feet] slow, subsultive, graze the level floor.
1909. Daily News, 2 July, 5. A very severe shock of earthquake of a subsultive and undulating character was felt here.
