different between quiver vs writhe

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

From Middle English writhen, from Old English wr?þan, from Proto-West Germanic *wr?þan, from Proto-Germanic *wr?þan? (“to weave, twist, turn”) (compare Old High German r?dan (“to wind, turn”), Old Norse ríða (“to wind”)), from Proto-Indo-European *wreyt- (“to twist, writhe”). Compare Lithuanian ri?sti (“to unbend, wind, roll”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: r?th, IPA^(key): /?a?ð/
• Rhymes: -a?ð

Verb

writhe (third-person singular simple present writhes, present participle writhing, simple past writhed or (archaic) wrothe, past participle writhed or (archaic) writhen)

1. (transitive) To twist, to wring (something).
2. (transitive) To contort (a part of the body).
   • 1906, Alfred Noyes, The Highwayman:

     She twisted her hands behind her; but all the knots held good.

     She writhed her hands till her fingers were wet with sweat or blood.

     They stretched and strained in the darkness, and the hours crawled by like years,

     Till, now, on the stroke of midnight,

     Cold, on the stroke of midnight,

     The tip of one finger touched it! The trigger at least was hers!

3. (intransitive) To twist or contort the body; to be distorted.
4. (transitive) To extort.

Translations

Noun

writhe (plural writhes)

1. (rare) A contortion.
2. (knot theory) The number of negative crossings subtracted from the number of positive crossings in a knot

Anagrams

• Wither, whiter, wither, wither-

Middle English

Verb

writhe

1. Alternative form of writhen