▪ I. † quave, n. Obs.
[f. next.]
A shake, tremble.
| 1382, etc. [see earth-quave]. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 419/2 Quaue, of a myre (K., P. quaue, as of a myre), labina. 1635 Swan Spec. M. (1670) 196 A quave of the earth swallowed a middle part of the city Misia. |
▪ II. † quave, v. Obs.
Also 3 cwauien, 4, 6 quaue, 5 qvavyn, 6 queaue.
[Early ME. cwavien, prob. repr. an OE. *cwafian, of parallel formation to cwacian quake; for the stem cf. quiver v.]
1. intr. To quake, shake, tremble.
| a 1225 St. Marher. 19 Al þe eorðe..bigon to cwakien [B. ant to cwauien]. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xviii. 61 The wal wagged and clef, and al the worlde quaued. 1382 Wyclif 1 Sam. xxviii. 5 And Saul..dradde, and his herte quauyde ful myche. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 419/2 Qvavyn, as myre, tremo. 1481 Caxton Myrr. II. c. 22 Now vnderstande ye..how the erthe quaueth and shaketh. 1509 Parl. Devylles lvi, The erthe quaued..Valeys and stones brest asonder. 1687 Miege Grt. Fr. Dict. ii, To Quave. As to quave with fat. [1825 see quaving ppl. a.] |
2. intr. To beat, palpitate; to throb with life.
| 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) VII. 37 Þe place at Schaftesbury þere his longes ȝit quaveþ al fresche and sound. 1589 Puttenham Eng. Poesie iii. xix. (Arb.) 223 Is he aliue, Is he as I left him queauing and quick. |
Hence † ˈquaving vbl. n. and ppl. a.
| 13.. E.E. Allit. P. B. 324, I schal..quelle alle þat is quik with quauende flodez. 1382 Wyclif 1 Kings xix. 11 After the wynde, quauynge; not in the quauyng the Lord. 1533 Elyot Cast. Helth i. ii, That body is called fleumatike, wherein water hath pre-eminence, and is perceiued by these signes: fatnesse, quaving, and soft. 1610 Holland Camden's Brit. i. 530 So quaving soft and moist the Bases were. 1825 Britton Beauties Wilts III. 8 In the valley..are some quagmires, called by the inhabitants quaving-gogs. |