身體裡的脈動
核心畫面最直接的落點：跳的東西就在你身上，而且跟血流的節奏對得上。
verb · B2
If a part of your body throbs, you feel pain there that keeps coming and going in a steady beat, in time with your pulse.
抽痛／一陣一陣地痛
核心畫面
Put a finger on the inside of your wrist and wait. Something arrives, stops, and arrives again, always at the same distance. That regular low push is the whole of throb. It is never one event and never a flat continuous sound — it is a beat that keeps returning, strong enough to be felt and not only heard. From there the word simply changes what is doing the beating: a swollen thumb, a heart before a test, a ferry engine under the floor, or a night market so full of people that the street itself seems to have a pulse.
可以把手指按在手腕內側等一下。有東西來了，停住，再來一次，間隔幾乎一樣。那個低低的、規律的推，就是 throb 的全…更多收起
可以把手指按在手腕內側等一下。有東西來了，停住，再來一次，間隔幾乎一樣。那個低低的、規律的推，就是 throb 的全部。它不會是單一一次，也不會是一條平平不斷的聲音——它是一個會再回來的節拍，而且強到不只聽得見，身體也感覺得到。接下來這個字只是換了「在跳的是什麼」：腫起來的大拇指、考試前的心臟、地板底下的渡輪引擎，或者一個人多到整條街好像都有脈搏的夜市。From the word’s history
The source traces the verb to Middle English throbben and says the origin is uncertain, possibly imitative — the word may have been made to sound like the thing it names. That fits the core: a short, blunt, repeated sound.
資料把這個動詞追到中古英語 throbben，並且說來源不確定，可能是模仿聲音造出來的字——也就是這個字本身可能就在學它所描述的聲音。這一點跟核心畫面很合：短、悶、會重複。
Wiktionary etymology supplied in this packet (kaikki:3f6f69a190036ae4:771216686:22250): 'From Middle English throbben; possibly of imitative origin. Cognate with Scots thrab.'
Four branches
身體外面的低沉節拍
把同一個脈搏搬到機器和音樂上：一樣低、一樣強、一樣會重複，只是來源在你身體外面。
verb · B2
If music or a machine throbs, it makes a low, deep sound or shaking that repeats in a strong, steady beat, which you can often feel as well as hear.
（低沉地）震動作響
那個跳動本身
名詞把核心畫面整個抓下來當成一樣東西，所以它同時涵蓋身體裡和身體外的兩種跳動。
noun · B2
A low, strong beat that keeps repeating — either a sound or shaking you can feel, or a wave of pain in your body.
（一陣陣的）跳動／抽痛
滿到整個地方都在跳
這一族把地方當成身體來寫：人潮和聲音就是它的脈搏，所以核心畫面被放大到一整條街。
verb · C1
If a place throbs with life, energy or excitement, it is completely full of it, so that the place itself seems to be moving to a beat.
充滿活力／熱鬧滾滾