Word.ws English Dictionary

quaver

/ˈkweɪvə(ɹ)/

quaver noun: a trembling shake.

quaver: a trembling shake
Image: Doktor Mandrake, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

quaver (plural quavers)

  1. A trembling shake.
  2. A trembling of the voice, as in speaking or singing.
  3. an eighth note, drawn as a crotchet (quarter note) with a tail.
    • The crotchets and quavers are dancing up and down the stave like little black boys on a fence.1920 August 27, Katherine Mansfield [pseudonym; Kathleen Mansfield Murry], “The Wind Blows”, in Bliss and Other Stories, London: Constable & Company, published 1920, →OCLC, pages 140–141

Verb

quaver (third-person singular simple present quavers, present participle quavering, simple past and past participle quavered)

  1. To shake in a trembling manner.
  2. (intransitive) To use the voice in a trembling manner, as in speaking or singing.
    • "Aw come on, guys!" The woman, clearly overwhelmed by the force of the two friends' personalities, quavered on the point of tears.1982 December 11, Andrea Loewenstein, “The Joys of Community or Holiday-itis Strikes Back”, in Gay Community News, volume 10, number 21, page 12
  3. (transitive) To utter quaveringly.
    • We shall hear her quavering them […] to some sprightly airs of the opera.1711 November 4 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison; Richard Steele et al.], “WEDNESDAY, October 25, 1711”, in The Spectator, number 205; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a...
    Synonyms:
    wobble

quaver meaning in Urdu, Bengali, Malayalam and Kannada

quaver in Urdu

لہک, کانپنا, لہرانا, لرزنا, تھرتھرانا

quaver in Bengali

কাঁপা, থরথর করা

quaver in Malayalam

കമ്പിക്കുക, വിറപൂണ്ട ശബ്ദത്തിൽ പാടുക, ഇടറിപ്പാടുക

quaver in Kannada

ನಡುಗು, ನಡುಗಿಸು, ಕಂಪಿಸು, ಸ್ಪಂದಿಸು, ಅದಿರು
More languagesFewer languages
quaver in Malay
kuaver
quaver in Vietnamese
móc đơn, nốt móc đơn

Synonyms of quaver

Forms of quaver

Noun
pluralquavers
Verb
third-person singular presentquavers
present participlequavering
past participlequavered
pastquavered

Origin of quaver

From Middle English quaveren, frequentative form of quaven, cwavien (“to tremble”), equivalent to quave + -er. Cognate with Low German quabbeln (“to quiver”), German quabbeln, quappeln (“to quiver”). More at quave, quab, quiver.

Words formed from quaver

Phrases with quaver

Words that rhyme with quaver

5 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about quaver

What does quaver mean?
Quaver means a trembling shake.
What is quaver in Urdu?
Quaver in Urdu is لہک, کانپنا, لہرانا. See Quaver meaning in Urdu.
What part of speech is quaver?
Quaver can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce quaver?
Quaver is pronounced /ˈkweɪvə(ɹ)/.
What is the plural of quaver?
The plural of quaver is quavers.

Words near quaver in the dictionary

  1. quauks
  2. quave
  3. quaved
  4. quavemire
  5. quavemires
  6. quaver
  7. quaver rest
  8. quaver rests
  9. quavered
  10. quaverer
  11. quaverers

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: quaver (page history and authors); quaver (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); quaver (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); quaver (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); quaver (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-quaver.wav.

Cite this entry: “quaver.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/quaver. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.