quaver

Definitions


[ˈkweɪvə], (Verb)

Definitions:
- (of a person's voice) shake or tremble in speaking, typically through nervousness or emotion
(e.g: his voice quavered with rage)


Phrases:

Origin:
late 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 century) as a musical term


[ˈkweɪvə], (Noun)

Definitions:
- a shake or tremble in a person's voice
(e.g: it was impossible to hide the slight quaver in her voice)

- a note having the time value of an eighth of a semibreve or half a crotchet, represented by a large dot with a hooked stem


Phrases:

Origin:
late 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 century) as a musical term




definition by Oxford Dictionaries