By Kenneth Beare│ ThoughtCo│4 min

View Original

There are a number of verbs that used to express body movements. These are movements made with a specific part of the body. Here are some examples:

He clapped his hands in time to the music.
Stop scratching that would. It’ll never heal!
Nod once for ‘yes’ and twice for ‘no’. 
She whistled a tune as she walked down the street. 

The following chart provides each verb indicating the part of the body used to make the movement, as well as providing a definition and an example for each verb.

blink	eyes	wink the eye; close eye rapidly without conscious effort; link wink but not intended	He blinked rapidly as he tried to see in the bright sun.
glance	eyes	a quick look at something or someone	He glanced at the documents and gave his OK.
stare	eyes	a long penetrating look at something or someone	He stared at the painting on the wall for over ten minutes.
wink	eye	close eye rapidly with a conscious effort; like blink but intended	He gave me a wink to signal that he understood.
point	finger	spot or show something with the finger	He pointed to his friend in the crowd.
scratch	finger	scrape the skin	If something itches then you probably need to scratch it.
kick	foot	strike with the foot	He kicked the ball into the goal.
clap	hands	applaud	The audience clapped enthusiastically at the end of the concert.
punch	hands	to strike with a fist	Boxers try to knock out their opponents by punching them in the face.
shake	hands	move back and forth; greeting when seeing someone	He shook the present to see if he could understand what was inside
slap	hands	strike with an open hand	Don’t ever slap a child, no matter how angry you become.
smack	hands	similar to slap	He smacked the table hard to emphasize the point he had just made.
nod	head	to move the head up and down	He nodded his approval of what the candidate was saying as he was listening.
shake	head	to move the head from side to side	He shook his head violently to show his disagreement with what she was saying.
kiss	lips	touch with the lips	He sweetly kissed his wife as they toasted their fiftieth wedding anniversary.
whistle	lips / mouth	make a sound by blowing air through the lips	He whistled his favorite tune as he drove to work.
eat	mouth	to introduce food into the body	He usually eats lunch at noon.
mutter	mouth	to speak softly, often in a manner which is hard to understand	He muttered something about how difficult his boss was and went back to work.
talk	mouth	to speak	They spoke about old times and the fun they had had together as children.
taste	mouth	to perceive flavor with the tongue	He tasted the vintage wine with relish.
whisper	mouth	to speak softly, usually without voice	He whispered his secret into my ear.
breathe	mouth	to respire; take air into the lungs	Just breathe that wonderful morning air. Isn’t it fantastic!
smell	nose	to sense through the nose; to give scent	Roses smell wonderful.
sniff	nose	short inhalation, often to smell something	He sniffed the various perfumes and decided on Joy No. 4.
shrug	shoulder	raise the shoulders, usually to show indifference to something	He shrugged when I asked him to explain why he had arrived late.
bite	mouth	grip with the teeth and introduce into the mouth	He took a big bite out of the fresh apple
chew	mouth	grind food with the teeth	You should always chew your food thoroughly before swallowing.
stub	toe	strike one’s toe into something	He stubbed his toe on the door.
lick	tongue	draw tongue across something	He licked his ice-cream cone contentedly.
swallow	throat	send down the throat, usually food and drink	He swallowed his food even though he wasn’t hungry.

Body Movements Quiz

Use one of the verbs from the chart to fill in the gap for each of these sentences. Be careful with verb conjugation.

1. Just relax, _______ through your mouth and think about happy times.
2. He just ________ his shoulders and walked away. 
3. _____ your secret into my ear. I won’t tell anyone. I promise!

1. We ______ hands before we began the meeting yesterday.
2. Try to _____ the ball into the goal of the other team, not ours!
3. If you put so much food into your mouth you won’t be able to _____.
4. She _____ at her friend, letting her know that this was a joke.
5. Don’t chew on hard candy. _____ it and it will last longer.
6. She ______ the sauce and decided it needed some more salt. 
7. I don’t like to ______ into other people’s eyes for too long. It makes me nervous.

Answers

1. breathe
2. shrugged
3. whisper
4. shook 
5. kick
6. swallow
7. winked
8. lick
9. tasted (sniffed / smelled)
10. stare

Practice more with these body movement quizzes.