Obs. Also 3 cwauien, 4, 6 quaue, 5 qvavyn, 6 queaue. [Early ME. cwavien, prob. repr. an OE. *cwafian, of parallel formation to cwacian QUAKE; for the stem cf. QUIVER v.]
1. intr. To quake, shake, tremble.
a. 1225. St. Marher., 19. Al þe eorðe … bigon to cwakien [B. ant to cwauien].
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. XVIII. 61. The wal wagged and clef, and al the worlde quaued.
1382. Wyclif, 1 Sam. xxviii. 5. And Saul … dradde, and his herte quauyde ful myche.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 419/2. Qvavyn, as myre, tremo.
1481. Caxton, Myrr., II. c. 22. Now vnderstande ye … how the erthe quaueth and shaketh.
1509. Parl. Devylles, lvi. The erthe quaued … Valeys and stones brest asonder.
1687. Miége, Gt. Fr. Dict., II. To Quave. As to quave with fat.
[1825. see Quaving ppl. a.]
2. intr. To beat, palpitate; to throb with life.
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), VII. 37. Þe place at Schaftesbury þere his longes ȝit quaveþ al fresche and sound.
1589. Puttenham, Eng. Poesie, III. xix. (Arb.), 223. Is he aliue, Is he as I left him queauing and quick.
Hence † Quaving vbl. sb. and ppl. a.
13[?]. E. E. Allit. P., B. 324. I schal … quelle alle þat is quik with quauende flodez.
1382. Wyclif, 1 Kings xix. 11. After the wynde, quauynge; not in the quauyng the Lord.
1533. Elyot, Cast. Helth, I. ii. That body is called fleumatike, wherein water hath pre-eminence, and is perceiued by these signes: fatnesse, quaving, and soft.
1610. Holland, Camden’s Brit., I. 530. So quaving soft and moist the Bases were.
1825. Britton, Beauties Wilts, III. 8. In the valley … are some quagmires, called by the inhabitants quaving-gogs.
