Shudder, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Shuddered;p. pr. & vb. n. Shuddering.]
Etymology: [OE. shoderen, schuderen; akin to LG. schuddern, D. schudden to shake, OS. skuddian, G. schaudern to shudder, schütteln to shake, schütten to pour, to shed, OHG. scutten, scuten, to shake.]
To tremble or shake with fear, horrer, or aversion; to shiver with cold; to quake. "With shuddering horror pale." Milton. The shuddering tennant of the frigid zone. Goldsmith.
1 other Webster entry under this spelling
Shudder, n.
The act of shuddering, as with fear. Shak.
Shades of meaning
Fernald has no entry of its own for shudder; he lists it under shake.
Where he writes about it:
A thing trembles that shakes perceptibly and with an appearance of uncertainty and instability, as a person under the influence of fear; a thing shivers when all its particles are stirred with a slight but pervading tremulous motion, as a human body under the influence of cold; shuddering is a more pronounced movement of a similar kind, in human beings often the effect of emotional or moral recoil; hence, the word is applied by extension to such feelings even when they have no such outward manifestation; as, one says, "I shudder at the thought." To quiver is to have slight and often spasmodic contractile motions, as the flesh under the surgeon's knife. — from shake