spasmodically

“But the flash happened again, and that’s when I saw where it was coming from. It came spasmodically from a chain of nine circular-shaped aircraft way up from the vicinity of Mount Rainier … I could not find any tails on these things. They didn’t leave a jet trail behind them. I judged their size to be at least 100 feet in diameter.”

Paulekas was easy to spot in the crowd of wildly attired, spasmodically gyrating teenagers: He was the old guy in his 50s with the wisps of silver hair, Salvador Dali goatee and white bell bottoms.

The muscles of his whole body contracted spasmodically and instinctively, the hair on his neck and shoulders stood on end, and with a ferocious snarl he bounded straight up into the blinding day, the snow flying about him in a flashing cloud.

I heard the sudden crunch of footsteps on gravel and, hardly aware of what I was doing, turned away spasmodically and pretended to inspect the trunk of a nearby tree.

He had a habit of gyrating and moving his body spasmodically while performing, and even while being promoted as the “Wonder of the World,” many described him as an “idiot,” even an “imbecile.”