quiver

Wikipedia

English

bow and quiver

Pronunciation

• enPR: kwĭvər, IPA: [kʍɪvə(ɹ)], /kwɪvə(ɹ)/, SAMPA: /kWIv@(r\)/, /kwIv@(r\)/
• Rhymes: -ɪvə(r)

Etymology 1

From Middle English quiver, from Anglo-Norman quiveir (compare Old French quivre, cuevre, coivre "quiver"), of Germanic origin (perhaps via Late Latin cucurum "quiver"), from Low Frankish *kokari "quiver, case for arrows" from West Germanic *kukārijaz, from Proto-Germanic *kukur- (“container, case”). Akin to Old High German kohhar, kohhari "quiver" (German Köcher "quiver"), Old Saxon kokari "quiver", Old Dutch cocar "quiver" (Dutch koker "quiver"), Old English cocer, cocur "quiver, container, case, sheath". More at cocker.

Noun

quiver (plural quivers)

1. (weaponry) A container for arrows, crossbow bolts or darts, such as those fired from a bow, crossbow or blowgun.
   • 1598, William Shakespeare, Much Ado about Nothing, Act I, Scene I, line 271:

     Don Pedro: Nay, if Cupid have not spent all his quiver in Venice, thou wilt quake for this shortly.

   • 1786, Francis Grose, A Treatise on Ancient Armour and Weapons, page 39:

     Arrows were carried in quiver, called also an arrow case, which served for the magazine, arrows for immediate use were worn in the girdle.

2. (figuratively) A ready storage location for figurative tools or weapons.

   He's got lots of sales pitches in his quiver.

3. (obsolete) The collective noun for cobras.
4. Shaking or moving with a slight trembling motion.
5. (mathematics) A multidigraph.

Translations

arrow container

Arabic: جعبة (já‘ba) Armenian: please add this translation if you can Czech: toulec (cs) m. Danish: kogger (da), pilekogger (da) Dutch: koker, pijlkoker Esperanto: sagujo (eo) Finnish: nuoliviini (fi), viini (fi) French: carquois (fr) m. Georgian: კაპარჭი (ka) (kaparči) German: Köcher (de) m. Greek: φαρέτρα (el) f. (faretra) Greenlandic: qarsulivik (kl) Hungarian: tegez (hu) Icelandic: örvamælir (is) m. Italian: faretra (it) f. Kannada: please add this translation if you can Latin: gōrȳtos (la) m., pharetra (la) f. Lithuanian: strėlinė (lt) f.

Macedonian: тоболец (mk) (tóbolec) m. Malayalam: please add this translation if you can Old English: cocer, bogefōdder Polish: kołczan (pl) m. Portuguese: aljava (pt) f. Russian: колчан (ru) (kolčán) m. Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: то̀болац (sh) m. Roman: tòbolac (sh) m. Spanish: aljaba (es) f. carcaj (es) m. Swahili: podo (sw), ziaka (sw), pongono (sw) Swedish: koger (sv) n. Tamil: please add this translation if you can Telugu: please add this translation if you can Ukrainian: please add this translation if you can Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can West Frisian: koker (fy) n.  !Xóõ: !úla

a ready storage location for figurative tools or weapons

Finnish: arsenaali (fi)

collective noun for cobras

shaking or moving with a slight trembling motion

Finnish: vapina (fi) French: tremblement (fr), frisson (fr), frémissement (fr) (of a person, of a voice) Georgian: თრთოლა (ka) (t'rt'ola)

Polish: drżenie (pl) n. Swedish: skakar (sv)

Etymology 2

From Middle English cwiver, from Old English *cwifer

Adjective

quiver (comparative more quiver, superlative most quiver)

1. (archaic) Nimble, active.
   • 1598, William Shakespeare, Henry V, Part II, Act III, Scene II, line 281:

     […] 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.

Etymology 3

From Middle English quiveren, probably from the adjective.

Verb

quiver (third-person singular simple present quivers, present participle quivering, simple past and past participle quivered)

1. (intransitive) To shake or move with slight and tremulous motion; to tremble; to quake; to shudder; to shiver.
   • 1593, William Shakespeare, Titus Andronicus, Act II, Scene III, line 12:

     The birds chaunt melody on every bush, The snake lies rolled in the cheerful sun, The green leaves quiver with the cooling wind And make a checker'd shadow on the ground.

Translations

shake or move with slight and tremulous motion

Chinese: Mandarin: please add this translation if you can Danish: dirre (da), sitre (da), sitre (da), bævre (da) Dutch: rillen (nl) Finnish: väristä (fi) French: please add this translation if you can Georgian: კანკალი (ka) (kankali) German: flattern (de)

Greenlandic: angaluppoq (kl), aalaqqajuppoq (kl) Italian: faretra (it) Japanese: 揺らめく (ゆらめく, yurameku) Polish: drżeć (pl) Portuguese: please add this translation if you can Spanish: please add this translation if you can Telugu: అదురు (aduru)