(pathology) Complete or partial muscle paralysis of a body part, often accompanied by a loss of feeling and uncontrolled body movements such as shaking.
The palsie plagues my pulses
when I prigg yoͬ: piggs or pullen
your culuers take, or matchles make
your Chanticleare or sullen
verb
To paralyse, either completely or partially.
1831, William Lloyd Garrison, The Liberator, To The Public http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4h2928t.html
In the month of August, I issued proposals for publishing "THE LIBERATOR" in Washington city; but the enterprise, though hailed in different sections of the country, was palsied by public indifference.