quaver
verb /ˈkweɪvə(r)/
/ˈkweɪvər/
[intransitive, transitive]Verb Forms
| present simple I / you / we / they quaver | /ˈkweɪvə(r)/ /ˈkweɪvər/ |
| he / she / it quavers | /ˈkweɪvəz/ /ˈkweɪvərz/ |
| past simple quavered | /ˈkweɪvəd/ /ˈkweɪvərd/ |
| past participle quavered | /ˈkweɪvəd/ /ˈkweɪvərd/ |
| -ing form quavering | /ˈkweɪvərɪŋ/ /ˈkweɪvərɪŋ/ |
- (+ speech) if somebody’s voice quavers, it is unsteady, usually because the person is nervous or afraid
- ‘I'm not safe here, am I?’ she asked in a quavering voice.
Oxford Collocations DictionaryQuaver is used with these nouns as the subject:- voice
Word Originlate Middle English (as a verb in the general sense ‘tremble’): from dialect quave ‘quake, tremble’, probably from an Old English word related to quake. The noun is first recorded (mid 16th cent.) as a musical term.
