quiver of excitement
- noun
:
escalofrío de emoción
- A quiver of excitement ran through her when she opened the gift.
- feel a quiver of excitement
Examples
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There was a quiver of excitement in the air as the crowd waited for the concert to begin.
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He experienced a quiver of excitement as he stepped onto the stage.
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He felt the usual quiver of excitement: he was on the glacier.
Fiction book (1991)
Synonyms
434
1.0
A strong feeling of happiness and eagerness, or something that causes it
23
2.7
A small shaking that you feel when you are very afraid or cold
6
3.9
A small shaking movement in the voice often caused by fear or excitement
1
4.1
A quick nervous feeling in your chest when you are excited
Antonyms
How Excited
Surface Forms
Morphology
quiver + of + excitement
The noun 'quiver' denotes a brief trembling and 'of excitement' clearly specifies the emotion causing that sensation, so the phrase denotes a slight/sharp feeling of excitement directly composed from its parts. This noun + of + noun construction is cross-linguistically common and follows transparent composition, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents would readily infer the meaning.
Etymology
The phrase quiver of excitement comes from the image of a small, quick shake. A quiver is a tiny shake of the body, and when that shake comes from excitement it becomes a short 'feeling' of joy or hope, so the phrase means 'a slight or brief feeling of excitement'.