different between shiver vs falter

English

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /???v?/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /???v?/
• Rhymes: -?v?(?)

Etymology 1

Origin uncertain, perhaps an alteration of chavel.

Verb

shiver (third-person singular simple present shivers, present participle shivering, simple past and past participle shivered)

1. To tremble or shake, especially when cold or frightened.
   • 1693, Thomas Creech, The thirteenth Satire of Juvenal

     The man that shivered on the brink of sin, / Thus steeled and hardened, ventures boldly in.

   • 1847, Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre, Chapter XVIII

     Mr. Mason, shivering as some one chanced to open the door, asked for more coal to be put on the fire, which had burnt out its flame, though its mass of cinder still shone hot and red. The footman who brought the coal, in going out, stopped near Mr. Eshton's chair, and said something to him in a low voice, of which I heard only the words, "old woman,"—"quite troublesome."

   • 1922, Margery Williams, The Velveteen Rabbit

     He was shivering a little, for he had always been used to sleeping in a proper bed, and by this time his coat had worn so thin and threadbare from hugging that it was no longer any protection to him.

2. (nautical, transitive) To cause to shake or tremble, as a sail, by steering close to the wind.

Derived terms

• ashiver
• shiverer
• shiver my timbers
• shivering owl

Translations

Noun

shiver (plural shivers)

1. The act of shivering.

   • But they had already discovered that he could be bullied, and they had it their own way; and presently Selwyn lay prone upon the nursery floor, impersonating a ladrone while pleasant shivers chased themselves over Drina, whom he was stalking.

2. (medicine) A bodily response to early hypothermia.^Wp

Translations

Derived terms

• send shivers down someone's spine
• shiver my timbers

See also

• frisson

Etymology 2

From a Germanic word, probably present in Old English though unattested, cognate with Old High German scivaro (German Schiefer (“slate”)).

Noun

shiver (plural shivers)

1. A fragment or splinter, especially of glass or stone.
2. (obsolete, Britain, dialect) A thin slice; a shive.

   • a shiver of their own loaf

3. (geology) A variety of blue slate.
4. (nautical) A sheave or small wheel in a pulley.
5. A small wedge, as for fastening the bolt of a window shutter.
6. (obsolete, Britain, dialect) A spindle.

Translations

Verb

shiver (third-person singular simple present shivers, present participle shivering, simple past and past participle shivered)

1. To break into splinters or fragments.
   • 1851, Herman Melville, Moby Dick, chapter 24

     But if, in the face of all this, you still declare that whaling has no aesthetically noble associations connected with it, then am I ready to shiver fifty lances with you there, and unhorse you with a split helmet every time.

   • 1904, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Adventure of the Six Napoleons, Norton (2005), page 1034:

     he found a plaster bust of Napoleon, which stood with several other works of art upon the counter, lying shivered into fragments.

   • 2010, Christopher Hitchens, Hitch-22, Atlantic 2011, p. 183:

     A whole series of fault lines radiated away from this Lisbon earthquake, all of them shivering the structures of traditional order.

Etymology 3

Origin uncertain

Noun

shiver (plural shivers)

1. Collective noun for a group of sharks

Anagrams

• hivers, shrive

English

Alternative forms

• faulter (archaic)

Etymology

From Middle English falteren (“to stagger”), further origin unknown. Possibly from a North Germanic source such as Old Norse faltrask (“be encumbered”). May also be a frequentative of fold, although the change from d to t is unusual.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?f??lt?(r)/, /?f?lt?(r)/

Noun

falter

1. unsteadiness.

Translations

Verb

falter (third-person singular simple present falters, present participle faltering, simple past and past participle faltered)

1. To waver or be unsteady; to weaken or trail off.
   • 1672, Richard Wiseman, A Treatise of Wounds

     He found his legs falter.
2. (transitive, intransitive) To stammer; to utter with hesitation, or in a weak and trembling manner.
   • 1807, Lord Byron, Childish Recollections

     And here he faltered forth his last farewell.
3. To fail in distinctness or regularity of exercise; said of the mind or of thought.
   • 1832, Isaac Taylor, Saturday Evening

     Here indeed the power of distinctly conceiving of space and distance falters.

4. To stumble.
5. (figuratively) To lose faith or vigor; to doubt or abandon (a cause).

   • And remember, comrades, your resolution must never falter.

6. To hesitate in purpose or action.
7. To cleanse or sift, as barley.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Halliwell to this entry?)

Translations

References