quaver

views updated May 18 2018

qua·ver / ˈkwāvər/ • v. [intr.] (of a person's voice) shake or tremble in speaking, typically through nervousness or emotion.• n. 1. a shake or tremble in a person's voice. 2. Mus., chiefly Brit. another term for eighth note.DERIVATIVES: qua·ver·ing·ly adv.qua·ver·y adj.

The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English

quaver

views updated May 21 2018

quaver vibrate, tremble XV; trill or shake in singing; also trans. XVI. frequent. (see -ER4) of ME. quave, cwauien (XIII), perh. repr. OE. *cwafian, parallel symbolic formation to cwacian QUAKE.
Hence quaver sb. (mus.) note equal to half a crotchet XVI; shake or trill XVII; tremulous cry, etc. XVIII.

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology T. F. HOAD

quaver

views updated Jun 11 2018

quaver (Fr. croche; Ger. Achtelnote; It. croma). The 8th-note, notated  (rest notated ): half value of quarter-note.

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music MICHAEL KENNEDY and JOYCE BOURNE

Quaver

views updated May 23 2018

Quaver

of coloraturas—Lipton, 1970.

Dictionary of Collective Nouns and Group Terms

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