shiver
1to shake or tremble with cold, fear, excitement, etc.
Nautical.
(of a fore-and-aft sail) to shake when too close to the wind.
(of a sailing vessel) to be headed so close to the wind that the sails shake.
a tremulous motion; a tremble or quiver: The thought sent a shiver down her spine.
(the) shivers, an attack of shivering or chills.
Origin of shiver
1synonym study For shiver
Other words from shiver
- shiv·er·er, noun
- shiv·er·ing·ly, adverb
Other definitions for shiver (2 of 2)
to break or split into fragments.
a fragment; splinter.
Origin of shiver
2Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use shiver in a sentence
“He said to think of God,” Victoria said, as we shivered in the early chill.
I shivered a little, and dryly advised him to remember better where he had stored the precious liquid.
Read ‘The King in Yellow,’ the ‘True Detective’ Reference That’s the Key to the Show | Robert W. Chambers | February 20, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThe troops that had been massed outside the palace in anticipation of unrest shivered in the cold, looking bored.
“They said they were going to ‘make me talk,’ that they were going to ‘jump-start me like a car,’” he shivered.
When the doors of the school opened, my aunt shivered in fear.
Thus enjoined, she took the letter; for a second her eyes met Garnache's glittering gaze, and she shivered.
St. Martin's Summer | Rafael SabatiniSquinty cuddled down in the basket of the balloon, between two bags full of something, and shivered.
Squinty the Comical Pig | Richard BarnumAnd the long-forgotten sound brought the past before him with such a vivid sense of reality that he positively shivered.
Three More John Silence Stories | Algernon BlackwoodThe blood rushed in a hot tide into the girl's pale wet face, and yet she shivered as if an arrow had pierced her heart.
The World Before Them | Susanna MoodieHarris, the silk merchant, stood among these broken and burnt stones and shivered.
Three More John Silence Stories | Algernon Blackwood
British Dictionary definitions for shiver (1 of 2)
/ (ˈʃɪvə) /
to shake or tremble, as from cold or fear
(of a sail) to luff; flap or shake
(of a sailing vessel) to sail close enough to the wind to make the sails luff
the act of shivering; a tremulous motion
the shivers an attack of shivering, esp through fear or illness
Origin of shiver
1Derived forms of shiver
- shiverer, noun
- shivering, adjective
British Dictionary definitions for shiver (2 of 2)
/ (ˈʃɪvə) /
to break or cause to break into fragments
a splintered piece
Origin of shiver
2Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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