Here you go. I can tell you that timber is: 2a c : a curving frame branching outward from the keel of a ship and bending upward in a vertical direction that is usually composed of several pieces united. And…shiver is 2 : to tremble in the wind as it strikes first one and then the […]
Written on Sunday, July 20th, 2008 by vanmerrill :: 0 comments to this post
Here you go.
I can tell you that timber is: 2a c : a curving frame branching outward from the keel of a ship and bending upward in a vertical direction that is usually composed of several pieces united. And…shiver is 2 : to tremble in the wind as it strikes first one and then the other side (of a sail) transitive senses : to cause (a sail) to shiver by steering close to the wind. (Merriam-Webster online).
: Shiver me/my timber.I can’t find any authority to agree, but I thought that this was another saying derived from sailing ships. It certainly seems firmly attached to pirates. I think the saying represents the shock of a large wave hitting a wooden ship broadside and causing the hull to shudder. In other words, it expresses shock or surprise.
Shiver My Timbers! … (expletive denoting surprise or disbelief)
Presumably, this expression alludes to a ship’s striking a rock or shoal so hard that her timbers shiver. The expression was first seen in 1834 in the novel _Jacob Faithfully_ by Frederick Marryat. In 1881, Robert Louis Stevenson found it to be the perfect exclamation for the irascible Long John Silver: “So! Shiver me timbers, here’s Jim Hawkins!” This stereotypical expletive became extremely popular with writers of sea yarns and Hollywood swashbucklers.
From _When a Loose Cannon Flogs a Dead Horse There’s the Devil to Pay: Seafaring Words in Everyday Speech_ (1996) by Olivia A. Isil
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