▪ I. quivering, vbl. n.
(ˈkwɪvərɪŋ)
[f. quiver v.2 + -ing1.]
The action of the vb.
| 1562 Turner Herbal ii. (1568) 23 b, The same..is good..for quiueringe or shakinge. 1597 A. M. tr. Guillemeau's Fr. Chirurg. 10/1 The Spasmus possessed the whole bodye with shakinge & quiveringe. 1632 Massinger Maid of Hon. i. ii, Cast not a sheep's eye Upon the quivering of my calf. 1801 Southey Thalaba ix. xxvi, The silver quivering of the element. 1863 Geo. Eliot Romola i. vi, A momentary quivering of the lip. 1884 tr. Lotze's Logic 437 The confused notion that..colours [are] merely quiverings of the ether. |
▪ II. quivering, ppl. a.
(ˈkwɪvərɪŋ)
[+ -ing2.]
1. That quivers; tremulous.
| a 1547 Surrey æneid ii. 224 Holding..her targe and quiuering spere. 1632 Lithgow Trav. vi. 273 A soft paued lodging for quiuering Goates. 1700 Dryden tr. Ovid's Metam. xiii. 124 Let his quiv'ring Heart confess his Fear. 1735 Somerville Chase iii. 429 The quiv'ring Bog Soft yielding to the Step. 1820 W. Irving Sketch Bk. I. 124 The sequestered pool, reflecting the quivering trees. 1871–4 J. Thomson City Dreadf. Nt. xvii. ii, The quivering moonbridge on the deep black stream. |
2. Of the nature of quivering.
| 1849 Noad Electricity 42 A wide brush of pale ramifications, having a quivering motion. 1882 A. W. Ward Dickens iv. 103 The story of experiences..to which his own mind could not recur without a quivering sensitiveness. |