Shiver

//ˈʃɪvɚ// name, noun, verb

name, noun, verb ·Common ·Middle school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The act of shivering.

    "A shiver went up my spine."

  2. 2
    A fragment or splinter, especially of glass or stone.
  3. 3
    Collective noun for a group of sharks. collective
  4. 4
    a reflex motion caused by cold or fear or excitement wordnet
  5. 5
    A bodily response to early hypothermia.
Show 7 more definitions
  1. 6
    A fragment or splinter, especially of glass or stone.; A splinter of wood embedded in the flesh Norfolk
  2. 7
    an almost pleasurable sensation of fright wordnet
  3. 8
    A thin slice; a shive. UK, dialectal, obsolete

    "a shiver of their own loaf"

  4. 9
    A variety of blue slate.
  5. 10
    A sheave or small wheel in a pulley.
  6. 11
    A small wedge, as for fastening the bolt of a window shutter.
  7. 12
    A spindle. UK, dialectal, obsolete
Verb
  1. 1
    To tremble or shake, especially when cold or frightened.

    "They stood outside for hours, shivering in the frosty air."

  2. 2
    To break into splinters or fragments.

    "The man, O Muse, inform, that many a way / Wound with his wisdom to his wished stay; / That wandered wondrous far, when he the town / Of sacred Troy had sack'd and shivered down; […]"

  3. 3
    shake, as from cold wordnet
  4. 4
    To cause to shake or tremble, as a sail, by steering close to the wind. transitive
  5. 5
    tremble convulsively, as from fear or excitement wordnet
Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A surname.

Synonyms

All synonyms
frissonshuddertrembleacheachingagitation

Example

More examples

"The mere thought of a snake makes me shiver."

Etymology

Etymology 1

Origin uncertain, perhaps an alteration of chavel, or a frequentive of sheaf.

Etymology 2

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

Etymology 3

Origin uncertain

Related phrases

send a shiver down someone's spinesend shivers down someone's spineshiver me timbersshiver my sidesshiver my soulshiver my timbersshiver my timbersshivering owlbodily reactioncold breezecold shakecold shakes

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.