startle

To move suddenly, or be excited, on feeling alarm; to start.

a horse that startles easily

Why shrinks the soul / Back on herself, and startles at destruction?

To excite by sudden alarm, surprise, or apprehension; to frighten suddenly and not seriously; to alarm; to surprise.

The supposition, at least, that angels do sometimes assume bodies need not startle us.

Nothing could startle her, make her scold or make her cry. She did not complain, she did not rebel.

To deter; to cause to deviate.

it would blast all their hopes, and startle all other princes from joining

As they turned into Hertford Street they startled a robin from the poet's head on a barren fountain, and he fled away with a cameo note.

A sudden motion or shock caused by an unexpected alarm, surprise, or apprehension of danger.

The figure of a man heaving in sight amidst these wide solitudes, always causes a startle and thrill of expectation and doubt, similar to the feeling produced by the announcement of " a strange sail ahead" on shipboard, during a long voyage.