quiver

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈkwɪvə/
• (General American, Canada) enPR: kwĭˈvər, IPA^(key): /ˈkwɪvɚ/

• Audio (GA)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪvə(ɹ)
• Hyphenation: quiv‧er

Etymology 1

From Middle English quiver, from Anglo-Norman quivre, from Old Dutch cocare (source of Dutch koker, and cognate to Old English cocer (“quiver, case”)), from Proto-West Germanic *kokar (“container”), said to be from Hunnic, possibly from Proto-Mongolic *kökexür (“leather vessel for liquids”); see there for more. Replaced early modern cocker, the inherited reflex of that West Germanic word.

Noun

quiver (plural quivers)

1. (weaponry) A container for arrows, crossbow bolts or darts, such as those fired from a bow, crossbow or blowgun.
   • 1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “Much Adoe about Nothing”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, , line 271:

     Don Pedro: Nay, if Cupid have not spent all his quiver in Venice, thou wilt quake for this shortly.

   • 1786, Francis Grose, A Treatise on Ancient Armour and Weapons, page 39:

     Arrows were carried in quiver, called also an arrow case, which served for the magazine, arrows for immediate use were worn in the girdle.

2. (figuratively) A ready storage location for figurative tools or weapons.

   He's got lots of sales pitches in his quiver.

3. (obsolete) A vulva.
4. (obsolete) The collective noun for cobras.
5. (mathematics) A multidigraph.

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English quiver, cwiver, from Old English *cwifer, probably related to cwic (“alive”).

Adjective

quiver (comparative more quiver, superlative most quiver)

1. (archaic) Nimble, active.
   • c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, ”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, , line 281:

     [...] there was a little quiver fellow, and 'a would manage you his piece thus; and 'a would about and about, and come you in and come you in.

Etymology 3

From Middle English quiveren, probably from the adjective.

Verb

quiver (third-person singular simple present quivers, present participle quivering, simple past and past participle quivered)

1. (intransitive) To shake or move with slight and tremulous motion.

   Synonyms: tremble, quake, shudder, shiver

   • c. 1588–1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Lamentable Tragedy of Titus Andronicus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, , line 12:

     The birds chaunt melodie on euerie buſh,
     The ſnakes lies rolled in the chearefull ſunne,
     The greene leaues quiuer with the cooling winde,
     And make a checkerd ſhadow on the ground: [...]

   • 1712 (date written), [Joseph] Addison, Cato, a Tragedy. , London: J Tonson, , published 1713, →OCLC, Act I, scene iv, page 2:

     And left the limbs still quivering on the ground.

   • 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter 84, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 410:

     Next moment with a rapid, nameless impulse, in a superb lofty arch the bright steel spans the foaming distance, and quivers in the life spot of the whale.

   • 1919 October, John Galsworthy, chapter VIII, in Saint’s Progress, London: William Heinemann, published December 1919, →OCLC, part III, page 300:

     And the moonlight on the Church seemed to shift and quiver—some pigeons perhaps had been disturbed up there.

Derived terms

• aquiver
• quivering
• quiversome

Translations

References

Further reading

• quiver on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Middle English

Etymology 1

From Anglo-Norman quivre, from Old Dutch cocare; perhaps ultimately from Proto-Mongolic *kökexür or Hunnic. Doublet of coker.

Alternative forms

• quyver, qwyver, qwywere, qwyvere, whyver

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkwivər/

Noun

quiver (plural quivers)

1. A quiver (a receptacle for arrows)
2. (rare, vulgar) A vulva.

Descendants

• English: quiver

References

• “quiver, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-05-04.

Etymology 2

From Old English *cwifer, probably related to cwic (“alive”).

Alternative forms

• quyver, quyvere, cwiver

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkwivər/

Adjective

quiver

1. fast, speedy, rapid
2. energetic, vigourous, vibrant

Descendants

• English: quiver

References

• “quiver, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-05-04.