To experience a sudden moment of excitement, surprise, fear, or strong emotion; to feel a brief interruption in one's normal emotional state.
This phrase dates to the 16th century and reflects the long-observed connection between strong emotions and heart palpitations. The expression treats the heart as a timekeeper that can miss its rhythm when overwhelmed by feeling, drawing on both medical observation and poetic metaphor.
This phrase captures one of humanity's most universal physical experiences - the way intense emotions literally affect our heartbeat. What's remarkable is how consistently this metaphor appears across cultures, suggesting that the heart-emotion connection is so fundamental that it transcends linguistic boundaries.
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