quiver
Syllables: quiv·erUK/ˈkwɪvə//ˈkwɪvɚ/
quiver noun: a container for arrows, crossbow bolts or darts, such as those fired from a bow, crossbow or blowgun.
Noun (1)
quiver (plural quivers)
- A container for arrows, crossbow bolts or darts, such as those fired from a bow, crossbow or blowgun.
- Don Pedro: Nay, if Cupid have not spent all his quiver in Venice, thou wilt quake for this shortly.1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “Much Adoe about Nothing”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
- Arrows were carried in quiver, called also an arrow case, which served for the magazine, arrows for immediate use were worn in the girdle.1786, Francis Grose, A Treatise on Ancient Armour and Weapons, page 39
- A ready storage location for figurative tools or weapons.
- He's got lots of sales pitches in his quiver.
- A vulva.
- The collective noun for cobras.
- A multidigraph, especially in the context of representation theory.
Adjective
quiver (comparative more quiver, superlative most quiver)
- Nimble, active.
- [...] there was a little quiver fellow, and 'a would manage you his piece thus; and 'a would about and about, and come you in and come you in.c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, […]. Epilogue.”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […]...
Verb
quiver (third-person singular simple present quivers, present participle quivering, simple past and past participle quivered)
- To shake or move with slight and tremulous motion.
- The birds chaunt melodie on euerie buſh,
The ſnakes^([sic – meaning ſnake]) lies rolled in the chearefull ſunne,
The greene leaues quiuer with the cooling winde,
And make a checkerd ſhadow on the ground: [...]c. 1588–1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Lamentable Tragedy of Titus Andronicus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac... - And left the limbs still quivering on the ground.1712 (date written), [Joseph] Addison, Cato, a Tragedy. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], published 1713, →OCLC, Act IV, scene i, page 47
- The birds chaunt melodie on euerie buſh,
Noun (2)
quiver (plural quivers)
- The act of quivering.
- I feel a quiver every time we kiss / The sky's the limit with a love like this1983, Chris Bostock, Dig Wayne, “Just Got Lucky”, performed by JoBoxers
Proper noun capitalized: Quiver
Quiver
- A stream in Illinois, United States; in full, Quiver Creek.
- A township in Mason County, Illinois, United States, named after Quiver Creek.
quiver meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
quiver in Hindi
- shaking or moving with a slight trembling motion
- कम्पन kampan, थर्राना tharrānā
- arrow container
- खोलि kholi, तरकश tarkaś
- shake or move with slight and tremulous motion
- थर्राना tharrānā, थरथराना tharathrānā
quiver in Tamil
- arrow container
- அம்பறாத் தூணி ampaṟāt tūṇi
- shake or move with slight and tremulous motion
- துடி tuṭi
quiver in Marathi
- a quiver
- भाता bhātā
quiver in Urdu
- arrow container
- تَرْکَش tarkaś
More languagesFewer languages
- quiver in Bengali
- কাঁপা, থরথর করা, তূণ
- quiver in Telugu
- వణుకు vaṇuku, కంపించు kampiñcu, అంబులపొద ambulapoda, తూణీరము tūṇīramu
- quiver in Malayalam
- ആവനാഴി āvanāḻi
- quiver in Kannada
- ನಡುಕ, ಮೂಡಿಗೆ, ದೊಣೆ, ಕಂಪನ
- quiver in Gujarati
- ભાથો bhātho
- quiver in Sanskrit
- स्पन्द् spand, खोलि kholi, तूण tūṇa, तूणी tūṇī
- quiver in Tagalog
- salungan, talanga
- quiver in Arabic
- جَعْبَة jaʕba
- quiver in Indonesian
- tarkas
- quiver in Persian
- تیردان tirdân, ترکش tarkaš, تیرکش tirkaš, شگا šagâ
- quiver in Thai
- แล่ง lɛ̂ng
- quiver in Vietnamese
- ống tên, bao tên
Examples of quiver in a sentence
- Next moment with a rapid, nameless impulse, in a superb lofty arch the bright steel spans the foaming distance, and quivers in the life spot of the whale.1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter 84, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers...
- And the moonlight on the Church seemed to shift and quiver—some pigeons perhaps had been disturbed up there.1919 October, John Galsworthy, chapter VIII, in Saint’s Progress, London: William Heinemann, published December 1919, →OCLC, part III, page...
Synonyms of quiver
Forms of quiver
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | quivers |
| Adjective | |
| comparative | more quiver |
| superlative | most quiver |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | quivers |
| present participle | quivering |
| past participle | quivered |
| past | quivered |
Origin of quiver
From Middle English quiver, from Anglo-Norman quivre, from Old Dutch cocare (source of Dutch koker, and cognate to Old English cocer (“quiver, case”)), from Proto-West Germanic *kokar (“container”), said to be from Hunnic, possibly from Proto-Mongolic *kökexür (“leather vessel for liquids”); see there for more. Replaced early modern cocker, the inherited reflex of that West Germanic word. The mathematical sense originated as German Köcher in a 1972 paper by Pierre Gabriel; it was likely chosen because a quiver contains arrows, while a digraph contains directed edges (also called "arrows").
From Middle English quiver, cwiver, from Old English *cwifer, probably related to cwic (“alive”).
From Middle English quiveren, probably from the adjective.
Words formed from quiver
- quiverness
- aquiver
- bequiver
- quiverer
- quivering
- quiverish
- quiverleaf
- quiversome
- quivertip
- quivery
- upquiver
- arrow in the quiver
- Auslander-Reiten quiver
- quiverful
- Quiverfull
- quiver tree
- subquiver
Phrases with quiver
Words that rhyme with quiver
- shiver
- sliver
- South River
- liver
- river
- flivver
- Trout River
- West River
- Clyde River
- Hunter River
- Murray River
- aquiver
7 more rhymesFewer rhymes
Questions about quiver
- What does quiver mean?
- Quiver means a container for arrows, crossbow bolts or darts, such as those fired from a bow, crossbow or blowgun.
- What is quiver in Hindi?
- Quiver in Hindi is कम्पन (kampan), थर्राना (tharrānā), खोलि (kholi). See Quiver meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use quiver in a sentence?
- Next moment with a rapid, nameless impulse, in a superb lofty arch the bright steel spans the foaming distance, and quivers in the life spot of the whale.
- What part of speech is quiver?
- Quiver can be a noun, an adjective, a verb or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce quiver?
- Quiver is pronounced /ˈkwɪvə/ (UK).
- What is the plural of quiver?
- The plural of quiver is quivers.
Words near quiver in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: quiver (page history and authors); Quiver (page history and authors); भाता (Marathi) (page history and authors); quiver (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); quiver (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ભાથો (Gujarati) (page history and authors); खोलि (Sanskrit) (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: En-us-quiver.ogg.
Cite this entry: “quiver.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/quiver. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.