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shudder

verb, noun — 4 senses

shudder

verb

UK /ˈʃʌdə/ · US /ˈʃʌdɚ/

Etymology From Middle English schoderen, from Middle Dutch schudderen and/or Middle Low German schodderen, iterative forms of the verb at hand in Dutch schudden, Low German schüdden (both “to shake”), German schütten (“to pour”), from Proto-Germanic *skudjaną, from Proto-Indo-European *skewdʰ-. From Low German are also borrowed German schaudern (“to shudder”), Danish skudre.

1

To shake nervously, often from fear or horror.

  • On seeing the spider under his pillow, John shuddered.
  • VVreath'd vp in fatall folds iuſt in his way, / The feare where of doth make him ſhake, & ſhudder, […]1594, [William Shakespeare], Venus and Adonis, 2nd edition, London: […] Richard Field, […], →OCLC, signature Fiij, verso, lines [879–880]:
1 more example
  • What makes me shudder so? / I shudder and I sigh to think / That even Cicero / And many-minded Homer were / Mad as the mist and snow.1929, William Butler Yeats, Mad as the Mist and Snow:
2

To vibrate jerkily.

Synonyms
palpitate, shiver, shake, quake, flutter, jiggle, wiggle
Derived terms
shudderer, shudderful, shudderingly, shuddersome, shuddery, unshuddering

shudder

noun

Etymology From Middle English schoderen, from Middle Dutch schudderen and/or Middle Low German schodderen, iterative forms of the verb at hand in Dutch schudden, Low German schüdden (both “to shake”), German schütten (“to pour”), from Proto-Germanic *skudjaną, from Proto-Indo-European *skewdʰ-. From Low German are also borrowed German schaudern (“to shudder”), Danish skudre.

1

A shivering tremor, often from fear or horror.

  • Seeing the spider under his pillow gave John a shudder.
2

A moment of almost pleasurable fear; a frisson.

  • They name thee before me, / ⁠A knell to mine ear; / A shudder comes o'er me— / ⁠Why wert thou so dear?c. 1816, Lord Byron, When we Two parted:
  • … and was not that slight tremble, a shudder which went through her young body, when his kiss, glowing and scorching with his wild passion, had dared to touch her tiny ice-cold hand?1906 January, Baroness Orczy [i.e., Emma Orczy], chapter 22, in A Son of the People: A Romance of the Hungarian Plains, London: Greening & Co., →OCLC:
Synonyms
jiggle, quake, rumble, quiver, shiver, tingle, thrill
Derived terms
shudder quote
Related terms
judder

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.

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