Library / English Dictionary

QUIVER

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

The act of vibrating

Synonyms:

quiver; quivering; vibration

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("quiver" is a kind of...):

motility; motion; move; movement (a change of position that does not entail a change of location)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "quiver"):

shudder; tremor (an involuntary vibration (as if from illness or fear))

Derivation:

quiver (shake with fast, tremulous movements)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Case for holding arrows

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("quiver" is a kind of...):

case (a portable container for carrying several objects)

Sense 3

Meaning:

An almost pleasurable sensation of fright

Example:

a frisson of surprise shot through him

Synonyms:

chill; frisson; quiver; shiver; shudder; thrill; tingle

Classified under:

Nouns denoting feelings and emotions

Hypernyms ("quiver" is a kind of...):

fear; fearfulness; fright (an emotion experienced in anticipation of some specific pain or danger (usually accompanied by a desire to flee or fight))

Sense 4

Meaning:

A shaky motion

Example:

the shaking of his fingers as he lit his pipe

Synonyms:

palpitation; quiver; quivering; shakiness; shaking; trembling; vibration

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Hypernyms ("quiver" is a kind of...):

motion (a state of change)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "quiver"):

tremolo ((music) a tremulous effect produced by rapid repetition of a single tone or rapid alternation of two tones)

tremor (shaking or trembling (usually resulting from weakness or stress or disease))

Derivation:

quiver (shake with fast, tremulous movements)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Move back and forth very rapidly

Example:

the candle flickered

Synonyms:

flicker; flitter; flutter; quiver; waver

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "quiver" is one way to...):

move back and forth (move in one direction and then into the opposite direction)

Sentence frame:

Something is ----ing PP

Sentence examples:

The crowds quiver in the streets

The streets quiver with crowds

Sense 2

Meaning:

Move with or as if with a regular alternating motion

Example:

the city pulsated with music and excitement

Synonyms:

beat; pulsate; quiver

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "quiver" is one way to...):

move (move so as to change position, perform a nontranslational motion)

Verb group:

pulsate; pulse; throb (expand and contract rhythmically; beat rhythmically)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Sense 3

Meaning:

Shake with fast, tremulous movements

Example:

His nostrils palpitated

Synonyms:

palpitate; quake; quiver

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "quiver" is one way to...):

tremble (move or jerk quickly and involuntarily up and down or sideways)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s

Derivation:

quiver (the act of vibrating)

quiver; quivering (a shaky motion)

Credits

 Context examples: 

"When will he come home, Marmee?" asked Beth, with a little quiver in her voice.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

She had been hurt to the quick, and her sensitive nature was quivering with the shame of it.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

And with a quivering lip he wound up the whole by adding, "Poor Fanny! she would not have forgotten him so soon!"

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

A pleasant “thank you” seemed meant to laugh it off, but a blush, a quivering lip, a tear in the eye, shewed that it was felt beyond a laugh.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

Lord Avon staggered forward, and it was only his son on one side and his wife on the other who kept his quivering hands from the throat of his insulter.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He sits motionless, like a spider in the centre of its web, but that web has a thousand radiations, and he knows well every quiver of each of them.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The intruder took in the scene without a quiver.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

“Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet,” cried the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Every thought that was devoted to it was an extreme anguish, and every word that I spoke in allusion to it caused my lips to quiver, and my heart to palpitate.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

There was not the faintest whisper of air—nothing moved, not a leaf quivered, the visible breaths of the dogs rising slowly and lingering in the frosty air.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)