quiver
pronunciation
How to pronounce quiver in British English:
UK [ˈkwɪvə(r)]
How to pronounce quiver in American English:
US [ˈkwɪvər]
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- Noun:
- an almost pleasurable sensation of fright
- a shaky motion
- case for holding arrows
- the act of vibrating
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- Verb:
- shake with fast, tremulous movements
- move back and forth very rapidly
- move with or as if with a regular alternating motion
Word Origin
- quiver (v.)
- "to tremble," late 15c., perhaps imitative, or possibly an alteration of quaveren (see quaver), or from Old English cwifer- (in cwiferlice "zealously"), which is perhaps related to cwic "alive" (see quick). Related: Quivered; quivering. As a noun in this sense from 1715, from the verb.
- quiver (n.)
- "case for holding arrows," early 14c., from Anglo-French quiveir, Old French quivre, cuivre, probably of Germanic origin, from Proto-Germanic *kukur "container" (cognates: Old High German kohhari, German Köcher, Old Saxon kokar, Old Frisian koker, Old English cocur "quiver"); "said to be from the language of the Huns" [Barnhart]. Related: Quiverful.
Example
- 1. Even as he ascends to your height and caresses your tenderest branches that quiver in the sun , so shall he descend to your roots and shake them in their clinging to the earth .
- 2. A few constellations here and there in the deep , pale azure , the earth all black , the heavens all white , a quiver amid the blades of grass , everywhere the mysterious chill of twilight .
- 3. Adam and eve as the divine groom and bride is one biblical arrow in the quiver of same-sex union opponents .
- 4. Quiver trees stand like eerie sentinels under the stars in the namib desert .
- 5. To feel a sudden quiver of excitement or emotion .