▪ I. quiver, n.1
(ˈkwɪvə(r))
Forms: 4 quy-, qwyu- ere, 4–7 quiuer, (6 quy-), 5–6 qwyver, (5 -uer, -were), 5– quiver, (5 quy-); 5 whywer, 5–6 -ver. β. Sc. 6 quavyr, quauir, 6–7 quaver.
[a. AF. quiveir, OF. quivre, quevre (cu-), coivre, etc., app. a. the Teutonic word represented in Eng. by cocker n.1]
1. A case for holding arrows (sometimes also the bow).
| α a 1300 E.E. Psalter x. 2 Þair bowe þai bent, Þair arwes in a quiuer sente. a 1340 Hampole Psalter x. 2 Þai redied þaire aruys in qwyuere. c 1400 Destr. Troy 2375 My bow þat was bigge, & my bright qwyuer. 1483 Cath. Angl. 417/1 A Whywer for bowes, architesis. 1555 Eden Decades 56 When they had emptied theyr quyuers. 1624 Capt. Smith Virginia ii. 25 His arrowes..he wore in a Woolues skinne at his backe for his Quiver. 1740 Somerville Hobbinol iii. 170 Fair Virgin Huntress, for the Chace array'd With painted Quiver, and unerring Bow. 1813 Scott Trierm. iii. xx, A quiver on their shoulders lay. 1854 Card. Wiseman Fabiola ii. xxiv. 284 A gaily-painted quiver, full of arrows. |
| β 1513 Douglas æneis viii. iii. 165 Ane courtly quavyr..Wyth arrowis mayd in Lycia. a 1584 Montgomerie Cherrie & Slae 114 His quaver..Hang in ane siluer lace. |
b. transf. and fig.
| 1382 Wyclif Ecclus. xxvi. 15 Aȝen alle arewe [she] shal opene quyuere. 1535 Coverdale Ps. cxxvi[i]. 5 Happie is the man, y{supt} hath his quyuer full of them. 1641 Milton Ch. Govt. i. vi, When the quiver of your arguments..is quite empty, your course is to betake ye to your other quiver of slander. a 1711 Ken Edmund Poet. Wks. 1721 II. 289 The taper'd Dart, Design'd to make its Quiver in my Heart. 1839 Bailey Festus ii. (1852) 14 Bow of my life, thou yet art full of spring! My quiver still hath many purposes. 1864 Trollope Small House at Allington ix, Boyce being a man who had his quiver full of them [children]. |
c. The contents of a quiver; a quiverful.
| 1599 Shakes. Much Ado i. i. 274 Nay, if Cupid haue not spent all his Quiuer in Venice, thou wilt quake for this shortly. 1623 Webster Duchess Malfi v. ii, Your bright eyes carry a quiver of darts in them sharper than sunbeams. |
2. attrib. and Comb., as quiver-bearing adj.; † quiver-case = sense 1; quiver-tree, the South African Aloe dichotoma (Treas. Bot. 1866).
| c 1560 A. Scott Poems (S.T.S.) iv. 47 Sic treitment is a trane To cleive thair quaver caice. 1798 Landor Gebir vii. 45 Woody Nebrissa's quiver-bearing crew. |
▪ II. quiver, n.2
(ˈkwɪvə(r))
[f. quiver v.1]
1. An act of quivering; a tremble; ellipt. a trembling of the voice. † Also = quaver n. 1.
| 1715 Pennecuik Poems 73 Cupid..Tun'd all his Crotchets, Quiuers, Semibrieues. 1786 F. Burney Lett. 16 Oct., I was all in a quiver, but gathered courage [etc.]. 1853 C. Brontë Villette xiv, Heaven was..grand with the quiver of its living fires. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) III. 204 Thrasymachus, I said, with a quiver, have mercy on us. |
2. Comb. quiver-grass = quaking-grass.
| 1860 C. M. Yonge Hopes & Fears II. vi. 105 Blue harebells and pale bents of quiver-grass edged the path. 1869 ― Let. 6 Aug. in C. Coleridge C. M. Yonge (1903) lx. 242 The Norman name for quiver-grass is Langue de femme. |
▪ III. quiver, a. Obs. exc. dial.
(ˈkwɪvə(r))
Forms: 1 cwifer, 3 cwiuer, couer, 5 qwy-, 5–6 quyuer, (6 que-), 5–7 quiuer, 6, 9 quiver.
[OE. *cwifer, prob. onomatopœic: cf. quiver v.2]
Active, nimble; quick, rapid.
| c 960 [implied in quiverly]. a 1225 Ancr. R. 140 Þet fleshs is her et home..ant for þui hit is cwointe & cwiuer [v.r. couer]. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xviii. xv. (1495) 774 Some wylde oxen ben..moost qwyuer and swyfte. 1519 W. Horman Vulg. 281 He or she is a quyuer gester. 1548 Udall Erasm. Par. Luke ii. 34 Of body feble and impotent, but of soule quiuer and lustie. 1567 Turberv. Epit. etc. 46 b, Thy quick and quiuer wings. 1597 Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, iii. ii. 301 A little quiuer fellow. 1823 E. Moor Suffolk Words 302 We..use the word in a sense of briskness, smartness—‘He's a quiver little fellow.’ |
▪ IV. quiver, v.1
(ˈkwɪvə(r))
[f. quiver n.1]
trans. To put into or as into a quiver. (Chiefly in pa. pple.; cf. quivered 2.)
| a 1643 Earl of Cumberland Ps. in Farr S.P. Jas. I (1848) 112 Thy galling shafts lye quiuered in my bones. a 1711 Ken Edmund Poet. Wks. 1721 II. 310 Use Spears, your Arrows quiver, case your Bows. 1866 J. B. Rose tr. Ovid's Met. 137 His thousand arrows lie Quivered around. |
▪ V. quiver, v.2
(ˈkwɪvə(r))
Forms: 5 quyuer, 6 quyver, 6–7 quiuer, 4– quiver.
[Prob. onomatopœic: cf. quiver a. and the vbs. quave, quaver.
The existence of an obs. Du. kuyveren, given by Kilian as meaning ‘to quiver’, is not otherwise authenticated.]
1. intr. To shake, tremble, or vibrate, with a slight but rapid agitation. (Said of persons, esp. under the influence of some emotion, of things, light, etc.)
| 1490 Caxton Eneydos xxvii. 103 Dido quyuered & shoke of grete rage. 1530 Palsgr. 677/2 The poore boye quivereth for colde. 1582 Stanyhurst æneis iii. (Arb.) 73 Scant had I thus spoken, when seats al quiuered about vs. 1620 Middleton Chaste Maid i. i. 118 A brave court-spirit makes our virgins quiver. 1670 Eachard Cont. Clergy 55 Do you not perceive the gold to be in a dismal fear, to curl and quiver at the first reading of these words. 1713 Addison Cato iii. ii, O'er the dying lamp th' unsteady flame Hangs quivering. 1752 Johnson Rambler No. 205 ¶1 The gales quivered among the branches. 1798 Wordsw. Peter Bell ii. i, Upon the stream the moonbeams quiver. 1853 Maurice Proph. & Kings xxi. 376 This..made his lips quiver and his hands tremble. 1869 Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) III. xii. 243 His hand trembled and his flesh quivered. |
| fig. 1840 Alison Europe (1849–53) VIII. l. §44. 267 The contest was quivering in the balance. 1861 Thackeray Four Georges ii. (1862) 86 Scorn and hate quivering in his smile. 1874 S. Cox Pilgr. Ps. vii. 133 The darkness..quivers on this night with a nameless horror. |
2. trans. To cause to vibrate or tremble.
| 1599 Minsheu Span. Dict., Blandéar, to brandish or quiuer a sword. 1789 J. White Earl Strongbow II. 146 He had a way of quivering his head and turning up his nose. 1804 Grahame Sabbath 288 The lark..quivers the wing With more than wonted joy. 1898 R. Kearton Wild Life at Home 53 He then began to quiver his drooping wings. |
b. To produce in or by quivering. rare—1.
| 1848 Kingsley Saint's Trag. iv. iv. 102 The mad air quivered Unutterable music. |
Hence quiveˈrante (after andante), quiveˈration (nonce-wds.). Also ˈquiverer; ˈquiverish a.; ˈquivery a.
| 1581 Mulcaster Positions xvii. (1887) 77 Wrastling..is daungerous to be delt with in agues, as to vehement and conspiring with the quiuerer. 1582 Stanyhurst æneis iii. (Arb.) 71 With a quiuerish horror. 1775 Sheridan Rivals ii. i, Such a mistress of flat and sharp, squallante, rumblante, and quiverante! 1812 J. Adams Wks. (1856) X. 16 My health is..good, excepting a quiveration of the hands... Excuse the word quiveration, which..I borrowed..from an Irish boy. 1877 Daily News 11 June 5/5 Like a dreamland that trembles in the quivery air. 1889 ‘Mark Twain’ Connecticut Yankee xxvi. 339 The headlines sent a quivery little cold wave through me. 1925 T. Dreiser Amer. Tragedy I. i. xv. 116 She..hinted of a mood which made Clyde a little quivery and erratic. 1927 Chambers's Jrnl. May 315/1 You and he have made my face quite quivery with excitement. 1975 L. Gillen Return to Deepwater viii. 152 ‘If you kiss me I'll—I'll scream for help,’ she said in a small and strangely quivery voice. |