shiver my timbers

alternative shiver me timbers

1. A mild oath expressing surprise, disbelief or annoyance, stereotypically regarded as being uttered by pirates.

   "The score!" he burst out. "Three goes o' rum! Why, shiver my timbers, if I hadn't forgotten my score!" And, falling on a bench, he laughed until the tears ran down his cheeks.

   1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, “At the Sign of the ‘Spy-Glass’”, in Treasure Island, London; Paris; New York, N.Y.: Cassell & Company, Limited, published 1883, →OCLC, page 66

   3 more examples

   I was informed I ſhould meet my dear Anna ſomewhere in theſe woods: I have been ſteering all points of the compaſs, but in vain. However, after having given chaſe to an enemy, ſhall I tamely haul my wind when my miſtreſs is in view? No;—ſhiver my timbers if I do. The man who meanly deſerts his King or his miſtreſs, deſerves to be ſhot for a traitor to both!

   1794, James Roberts, Rule Britannia! A Loyal Sketch, in Two Acts, as Performed with Universal Applause at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket, London: Printed for Hookham and Carpenter, Old and New Bond-street, →OCLC, act II, scene i, page 26

   I weighed anchor inſtantly, and bore up right a-head to Dynevawr-houſe as faſt as my wooden leg would carry me. […] Shiver my timbers! what do you think I found 'em at? Split my wind if there was not a gang, with Mrs. Martha at the head, working away at the temple which was built for us to take our grog in.

   1799, [Edward Dubois], chapter XII, in A Piece of Family Biography. In Three Volumes, volume II, London: Printed for J[ohn] Bell, no. 148, Oxford-Street, opposite New Bond-Street, →OCLC, page 216

   When I wake up the next morning there's a seagull on my windowsill. […] They're such big birds, seagulls, so loud and cocksure and arrogant. If they could speak they would all sound like sailors. All avast! and ahoy there! and shiver me timbers! and they'd smoke reedy pipes and down flagons of foamy ale.

   2005, Daisy Jordan, chapter 19, in Wild about Harry, London: Bantam Books, →ISBN, page 263

   Synonyms: shiver my sides, shiver my soul