different between quiver vs sway

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?kw?v?/
• (General American, Canada) enPR: kw??v?r, IPA^(key): /?kw?v??/
• Rhymes: -?v?(?)
• Hyphenation: qui?ver

Etymology 1

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 *kukur (“container”), said to be from Hunnic, possibly from Proto-Mongolic *kökexür (“leather vessel for liquids”); see there for more. Replaced early modern English cocker, the inherited reflex of that West Germanic word.

Noun

quiver (plural quivers)

1. (weaponry) A container for arrows, crossbow bolts or darts, such as those fired from a bow, crossbow or blowgun.
   • 1598, William Shakespeare, Much Ado about Nothing, Act I, Scene I, line 271:

     Don Pedro: Nay, if Cupid have not spent all his quiver in Venice, thou wilt quake for this shortly.

   • 1786, Francis Grose, A Treatise on Ancient Armour and Weapons, page 39:

     Arrows were carried in quiver, called also an arrow case, which served for the magazine, arrows for immediate use were worn in the girdle.

2. (figuratively) A ready storage location for figurative tools or weapons.

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

3. (obsolete) The collective noun for cobras.
4. (mathematics) A multidigraph.

Derived terms

• quiverful

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English quiver, cwiver, from Old English *cwifer, probably related to cwic (“alive”).

Adjective

quiver (comparative more quiver, superlative most quiver)

1. (archaic) Nimble, active.
   • 1598, William Shakespeare, Henry V, Part II, Act III, Scene II, line 281:

     [...] 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.

Etymology 3

From Middle English quiveren, probably from the adjective.

Verb

quiver (third-person singular simple present quivers, present participle quivering, simple past and past participle quivered)

1. (intransitive) To shake or move with slight and tremulous motion

   Synonyms: tremble, quake, shudder, shiver

   • And left the limbs still quivering on the ground.

Derived terms

• aquiver
• quivering
• quiversome

Translations

References

Further reading

• quiver on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Middle English

Etymology 1

From Anglo-Norman quivre, from Old Dutch cocare; perhaps ultimately from Proto-Mongolic *kökexür or Hunnic. Doublet of coker.

Alternative forms

• quyver, qwyver, qwywere, qwyvere, whyver

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?kwiv?r/

Noun

quiver (plural quivers)

1. A quiver (a receptacle for arrows)
2. (rare, vulgar) A vulva.

Descendants

• English: quiver

References

• “quiver, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-05-04.

Etymology 2

From Old English *cwifer, probably related to cwic (“alive”).

Alternative forms

• quyver, quyvere, cwiver

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?kwiv?r/

Adjective

quiver

1. fast, speedy, rapid
2. energetic, vigourous, vibrant

Descendants

• English: quiver

References

• “quiver, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-05-04.

English

Etymology

Earlier swey (“to fall, swoon”), from Middle English sweyen, from Old Norse sveigja (“to bend, bow”), from Proto-Germanic *swaigijan? (compare Saterland Frisian swooie (“to swing, wave, wobble”), Dutch zwaaien, Dutch Low Saxon sweuen (“to sway in the wind”), from Proto-Indo-European *sweh?- (compare Lithuanian sva?gti (“to become giddy or dizzy”), the second element of Avestan ????????????????????-????????????????????????????? (paⁱri-šxuaxta, “to surround”), Sanskrit ?????? (svájate, “he embraces, enfolds”).

The noun derived from the verb.

Pronunciation

• enPR: sw?, IPA^(key): /swe?/
• Rhymes: -e?

Noun

sway (countable and uncountable, plural sways)

1. The act of swaying; a swaying motion; a swing or sweep of a weapon.
2. A rocking or swinging motion.

3. Influence, weight, or authority that inclines to one side
4. Preponderance; turn or cast of balance.
5. Rule; dominion; control; power.
6. A switch or rod used by thatchers to bind their work.
7. The maximum amplitude of a vehicle's lateral motion.

Translations

Verb

sway (third-person singular simple present sways, present participle swaying, simple past and past participle swayed)

1. To move or swing from side to side; or backward and forward; to rock.

   • Breezes blowing from beds of iris quickened her breath with their perfume; she saw the tufted lilacs sway in the wind, and the streamers of mauve-tinted wistaria swinging, all a-glisten with golden bees; she saw a crimson cardinal winging through the foliage, and amorous tanagers flashing like scarlet flames athwart the pines.

2. To move or wield with the hand; to swing; to wield.
3. To influence or direct by power, authority, persuasion, or by moral force; to rule; to govern; to guide. Compare persuade.

   • This was the race / To sway the world, and land and sea subdue.
4. To cause to incline or swing to one side, or backward and forward; to bias; to turn; to bend; warp.
   • 1663, John Tillotson, The Wisdom of being Religious

     Let not temporal and little advantages sway you against a more durable interest.

5. (nautical) To hoist (a mast or yard) into position.

6. To be drawn to one side by weight or influence; to lean; to incline.
   • 1623, Francis Bacon, A Discourse of a War with Spain

     The balance sways on our part.

7. To have weight or influence.
   • 1594, Richard Hooker, Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie

     The example of sundry churches […] doth sway much.

8. To bear sway; to rule; to govern.

Derived terms

• asway

Translations

See also

• persuade

Anagrams

• -ways, Yaws, ways, yaws