quiver

views updated May 11 2018

quiv·er1 / ˈkwivər/ • v. [intr.] tremble or shake with a slight rapid motion: the tree's branches stopped quivering. ∎  (of a person, a part of their body, or their voice) tremble with sudden strong emotion: Bertha's voice quivered with indignation. ∎  [tr.] cause (something) to make a slight rapid motion: the bird runs along in a zigzag path, quivering its wings.• n. a slight trembling movement or sound, esp. one caused by a sudden strong emotion: Meredith felt a quiver of fear.DERIVATIVES: quiv·er·ing·ly adv.quiv·er·y adj.quiv·er2 • n. an archer's portable case for holding arrows. ∎  a set of surfboards of different lengths and shapes for use with different types of waves.PHRASES: an arrow in the quiver one of a number of resources or strategies that can be drawn on or followed.

quiver

quiver

views updated May 29 2018

quiver an archer's portable case for holding arrows. The word is recorded from Middle English, and is ultimately of West Germanic origin.

In British humorous usage, quiverful can mean a large number of offspring (originally with biblical allusion to Psalm 127:5, ‘Like as the arrows in the hand of the giant: even so are the young children. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them’).
an arrow in the quiver one of a number of resources or strategies that can be drawn on or followed.

quiver

views updated May 11 2018

quiver1 case for holding arrows. XIII. — AN. *quiver, quiveir, OF. quivre, coivre — WGmc. word repr. by OE. cocor, OS. kokar(i) (Du. koker), OHG. kohhar(i) (G. köcher).

Quiver

views updated May 18 2018

Quiver

a sheath for arrows; hence. the arrows themselves.

Examples : quiver of arguments, 1641; of arrows, 1300; of darts, 1632; of ghosts (book title by R. Chetwynd-Hayes); quiver of slander, 1641.

quiver

views updated Jun 08 2018

quiver2 shake with small rapid movements. XV. f. ME. cwiver nimble, quick, OE. cwifer (in adv. cwiferlīce).