quiver

plural quivers

1. engineeringA 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] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i], line 271

   1 more example

   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

2. figurativelyA ready storage location for figurative tools or weapons.

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

3. obsoleteA vulva.
4. obsoleteThe collective noun for cobras.
5. mathematicsA multidigraph, especially in the context of representation theory.

comparative more quiver · superlative most quiver

1. archaicNimble, 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: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii], line 281

present singular third person quivers · participle present quivering · participle past quivered · past quivered

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

   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

   3 more examples

   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 Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iii], line 12

   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; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 410

   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 300

   Synonyms: tremble, quake, shudder, shiver, flutter

plural quivers

1. The act of quivering.

   I feel a quiver every time we kiss / The sky's the limit with a love like this

   1983, Chris Bostock, Dig Wayne, “Just Got Lucky”, performed by JoBoxers

1. A stream in Illinois, United States; in full, Quiver Creek.
2. A township in Mason County, Illinois, United States, named after Quiver Creek.