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quiver

Pronunciation: /ˈkwɪvə/

The English word “quiver” has 8 meanings listed here.

noun

  1. A container for arrows, crossbow bolts or darts, such as those fired from a bow, crossbow or blowgun.
  2. A ready storage location for figurative tools or weapons.
  3. A vulva.
  4. The collective noun for cobras.
  5. A multidigraph, especially in the context of representation theory.
  6. The act of quivering.

adjective

  1. Nimble, active.

verb

  1. To shake or move with slight and tremulous motion.

Etymology

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…

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.