shiver
shiver Lexical Profile
shiver Game Scores & Validity
• verb
To shake slightly and uncontrollably as a result of being cold, frightened, or excited.
"The hikers stood shivering in the icy wind while waiting for the mountain rescue team."
To break or shatter into small fragments or splinters.
"The heavy wooden lance shivered into pieces upon impact with the shield."
• noun
A momentary, involuntary trembling or shaking movement of the body caused by cold, fear, or strong emotion.
"A sudden shiver ran down her spine as she stepped into the unheated hallway."
One of the small, sharp fragments or splinters into which glass, wood, or stone is shattered.
"The antique porcelain vase fell from the shelf and broke into a thousand shivers."
A collective group of sharks.
"The marine biologists observed a shiver of hammerhead sharks swimming near the reef."
• Rhymes for shiver
• Nearby Words
Word Origin & Etymology
The sense of trembling comes from Middle English chiveren, an alteration of cheveren (related to Old English ceafl, meaning 'jaw', from the chattering of teeth). The sense of a splinter or fragment comes from a separate Middle English root, scifre, related to Germanic words for splitting wood or stone.