shiver
English
Pronunciation
Etymology 1
From a Germanic word, probably present in Old English though unattested, cognate with Old High German scivaro (German Schiefer ‘slate’).
Noun
shiver (plural shivers)
Verb
shiver (third-person singular simple present shivers, present participle shivering, simple past and past participle shivered)
- To break into splinters or fragments.
- 1851, Herman Melville, Moby Dick, chapter 24
- But if, in the face of all this, you still declare that whaling has no aesthetically noble associations connected with it, then am I ready to shiver fifty lances with you there, and unhorse you with a split helmet every time.
- 1904, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Adventure of the Six Napoleons, Norton (2005), page 1034:
- he found a plaster bust of Napoleon, which stood with several other works of art upon the counter, lying shivered into fragments.
- 2010, Christopher Hitchens, Hitch-22, Atlantic 2011, p. 183:
- A whole series of fault lines radiated away from this Lisbon earthquake, all of them shivering the structures of traditional order.
- 1851, Herman Melville, Moby Dick, chapter 24
Derived terms
Etymology 2
Origin uncertain, perhaps an alteration of chavel.
Verb
shiver (third-person singular simple present shivers, present participle shivering, simple past and past participle shivered)
- To tremble or shake, especially when cold or frightened.
- They stood outside for hours, shivering in the frosty air.
- 1922, Margery Williams, The Velveteen Rabbit
- He was shivering a little, for he had always been used to sleeping in a proper bed, and by this time his coat had worn so thin and threadbare from hugging that it was no longer any protection to him.
- 1847, Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre, Chapter XVIII
- Mr. Mason, shivering as some one chanced to open the door, asked for more coal to be put on the fire, which had burnt out its flame, though its mass of cinder still shone hot and red. The footman who brought the coal, in going out, stopped near Mr. Eshton's chair, and said something to him in a low voice, of which I heard only the words, "old woman,"—"quite troublesome."
- (nautical, transitive) To cause to shake or tremble, as a sail, by steering close to the wind.
Translations
to tremble or shake
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Noun
shiver (plural shivers)
- The act or result of shivering.
- A shiver went up my spine.
- 1907, Robert Chambers, chapter 1/2, The Younger Set[1]:
- […] presently Selwyn lay prone upon the nursery floor, impersonating a ladrone while pleasant shivers chased themselves over Drina, whom he was stalking.
- (medicine) A bodily response to early hypothermia (Wikipedia).
Translations
the act or result of shivering