SHIVER • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Shiver

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/ʃˈɪvər/ Listen

noun

Shiver n.

One of the small pieces, or splinters, into which a brittle thing is broken by sudden violence; generally used in the plural. "All to shivers dashed."

A thin slice; a shive. (Obs. or Prov. Eng.) "A shiver of their own loaf." "Of your soft bread, not but a shiver."

(Geol.) A variety of blue slate.

(Naut.) A sheave or small wheel in a pulley.

A small wedge, as for fastening the bolt of a window shutter.

A spindle. (Obs. or Prov. Eng.)

Shiver n. The act of shivering or trembling.

verb

Shiver v. t. (past & past part. shivered; pres. part. shivering) To break into many small pieces, or splinters; to shatter; to dash to pieces by a blow; as, to shiver a glass goblet. "All the ground With shivered armor strown."

Shiver v. t. (Naut.) To cause to shake or tremble, as a sail, by steering close to the wind.

Shiver v. i. To separate suddenly into many small pieces or parts; to be shattered. "There shiver shafts upon shields thick." "The natural world, should gravity once cease,... would instantly shiver into millions of atoms."

Shiver v. i. To tremble; to vibrate; to quiver; to shake, as from cold or fear. "Prometheus is laid On icy Caucasus to shiver." "The man that shivered on the brink of sin, Thus steeled and hardened, ventures boldly in."

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Etymology of 'Shiver'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Shiver" Quotes from Famous Books

... wealth. Poverty did not attract him. It was not suited to his cast of mind. Poverty was humiliating. Emerson accumulated a fortune, and it added to his self-respect. Thoreau's pride in his poverty must have made Emerson shiver. ...

— The Last Harvest • John Burroughs

... again!—silently companioned by the shadows of old thoughts; far from her—farther than he had ever been. For a while she lay there, watching him, scarcely breathing; then a faint shiver of utter loneliness came over her—of desire for his attention, his voice, his friendship, and the expression of it. But he never moved; his eyes seemed dull and unseeing; his face strangely gaunt to her, unfamiliar, hard. In the dim light he seemed but the ghost of what she had known, of what ...

— The Younger Set • Robert W. Chambers

... answer he steered the car to the side of the road, brought it to a standstill, and descended from his seat. There was an air of deliberation about the proceeding which sent a shiver down my spine. The inference was that the enumeration of my faults was so lengthy a business that it could not be undertaken by a man who had other work in hand. I sat in nervous fascination, watching him slowly cross to my side of the car, lean forward, and place both hands on the ...

— The Lady of the Basement Flat • Mrs. George de Horne Vaizey

... always expected to see a slender stream of blood slowly trickling. For a man called Macgregor had murdered his wife there—beaten her brains out with a poker. Beth never heard the name Macgregor in after life without a shiver of dislike. Much of her time at school was spent in solitary confinement for breaches of the peace. With a face as impassive as a monkey's she would do the most mischievous things, and was always experimenting in naughty tricks, as on one occasion when Miss ...

— The Beth Book - Being a Study of the Life of Elizabeth Caldwell Maclure, a Woman of Genius • Sarah Grand

... they felt themselves in duty bound to join her. Perhaps they might catch sight of a rabbit to repay them for their exertions. Donald walked with stately steps toward his mistress, and Bess was following, with a shiver of reluctance and a backward glance towards the fire-light which shone through the open door, when suddenly she sniffed the presence of a stranger, and, with a sharp yap, hurled herself down the ...

— At Love's Cost • Charles Garvice

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