QUIVER

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does quiver mean? 

• QUIVER (noun)
  The noun QUIVER has 4 senses:

1. an almost pleasurable sensation of fright

2. a shaky motion

3. case for holding arrows

4. the act of vibrating

  Familiarity information: QUIVER used as a noun is uncommon.

• QUIVER (verb)
  The verb QUIVER has 3 senses:

1. shake with fast, tremulous movements

2. move back and forth very rapidly

3. move with or as if with a regular alternating motion

  Familiarity information: QUIVER used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• QUIVER (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

An almost pleasurable sensation of fright

Classified under:

Nouns denoting feelings and emotions

Synonyms:

chill; frisson; quiver; shiver; shudder; thrill; tingle

Context example:

a frisson of surprise shot through him

Hypernyms ("quiver" is a kind of...):

fear; fearfulness; fright (an emotion experienced in anticipation of some specific pain or danger (usually accompanied by a desire to flee or fight))

Sense 2

Meaning:

A shaky motion

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

palpitation; quiver; quivering; shakiness; shaking; trembling; vibration

Context example:

the shaking of his fingers as he lit his pipe

Hypernyms ("quiver" is a kind of...):

motion (a state of change)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "quiver"):

tremolo ((music) a tremulous effect produced by rapid repetition of a single tone or rapid alternation of two tones)

tremor (shaking or trembling (usually resulting from weakness or stress or disease))

Derivation:

quiver (shake with fast, tremulous movements)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Case for holding arrows

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("quiver" is a kind of...):

case (a portable container for carrying several objects)

Sense 4

Meaning:

The act of vibrating

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

quiver; quivering; vibration

Hypernyms ("quiver" is a kind of...):

motility; motion; move; movement (a change of position that does not entail a change of location)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "quiver"):

shudder; tremor (an involuntary vibration (as if from illness or fear))

Derivation:

quiver (shake with fast, tremulous movements)

• QUIVER (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they quiver    ... he / she / it quivers   
Past simple: quivered   
Past participle: quivered   
-ing form: quivering   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Shake with fast, tremulous movements

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Synonyms:

palpitate; quake; quiver

Context example:

His nostrils palpitated

Hypernyms (to "quiver" is one way to...):

tremble (move or jerk quickly and involuntarily up and down or sideways)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s

Derivation:

quiver (the act of vibrating)

quiver; quivering (a shaky motion)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Move back and forth very rapidly

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Synonyms:

flicker; flitter; flutter; quiver; waver

Context example:

the candle flickered

Hypernyms (to "quiver" is one way to...):

move back and forth (move in one direction and then into the opposite direction)

Sentence frame:

Something is ----ing PP

Sentence examples:

The crowds quiver in the streets
The streets quiver with crowds

Sense 3

Meaning:

Move with or as if with a regular alternating motion

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Synonyms:

beat; pulsate; quiver

Context example:

the city pulsated with music and excitement

Hypernyms (to "quiver" is one way to...):

move (move so as to change position, perform a nontranslational motion)

Verb group:

pulsate; pulse; throb (expand and contract rhythmically; beat rhythmically)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

 Context examples 

Our visitor stretched forward a quivering hand and picked up the Daily Telegraph, which still lay upon Holmes’s knee.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

One Eye half arose in his excitement, his ears up, his tail straight out and quivering behind him.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

Sometimes, by the quivering of the water, he appeared to move a little, as if he were trying to rise.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

They rose expectant: eye and ear waited while the flesh quivered on my bones.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

It wavered and quivered above us for a minute, the morning sun gleaming upon its sleek, sinuous coils.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Marianne's lips quivered, and she repeated the word "Selfish?" in a tone that implied—"do you really think him selfish?

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

In an instant he was tense and alert, his eyes shining, his face set, his limbs quivering with eager activity.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I could feel that the rest quivered, as I did, but we remained otherwise still.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

“It is my trade to risk my skin,” growled the archer; but none the less he thrust his quiver over his hip again and turned his face for the west.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The face he turned up to the troubled sky, the quivering of his clasped hands, the agony of his figure, remain associated with the lonely waste, in my remembrance, to this hour.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)