I retain an eight volume dictionary from 1899 to answer this kind of question. Meaning four is
To arouse the emotions of; agitate or perturb mentally; move: as, he was greatly excited by the news.
One real-life example is
The news of the fall of Calcutta reached Madras, and excited the fiercest and bitterest resentment
Today “exciting” is often contrasted with “boring” and has a positive connotation. (eg “We hoped the football game would be exciting and were disappointed when it was boring.”) My old dictionary seems evenly balanced with “excited” being bad and good by turns.
(“excited: 1.a Stirred by strong emotion, disturbed, agitated. ’1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. III. 275 “The population of Edinburgh was in an excited state.” 1864 Mrs. Carlyle Lett. III. 216 “The excited people‥rushed out to me.” 1879 McCarthy Own Times I. 199 “Thiers carried with him much of the excited public feeling of France.”’”)
Did “excited” mean something different back then? (If so, I may have misinterpreted a certain line in “All Along the Watchtower” by Bob Dylan.)
I retain an eight volume dictionary from 1899 to answer this kind of question. Meaning four is
One real-life example is
Today “exciting” is often contrasted with “boring” and has a positive connotation. (eg “We hoped the football game would be exciting and were disappointed when it was boring.”) My old dictionary seems evenly balanced with “excited” being bad and good by turns.
That’s some epic skill levels in Arcane Lore right there.
Or he could’ve just downloaded a copy of the OED.
(“excited: 1.a Stirred by strong emotion, disturbed, agitated. ’1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. III. 275 “The population of Edinburgh was in an excited state.” 1864 Mrs. Carlyle Lett. III. 216 “The excited people‥rushed out to me.” 1879 McCarthy Own Times I. 199 “Thiers carried with him much of the excited public feeling of France.”’”)