TO BIVVER

Bivver fits December, snug as a bug in a Hudson's Bay blanket. Bivver is a wintry Newfoundland verb, meaning ‘to shiver and shake,’ especially with cold.

"I’se all a-bivverrrrr dis mornin' " = I’m shaking with the cold.

A trilled r like brrrrr! is often added facetiously to the end of the word. As a noun, bivver means a trembling of the lips, or just a shaking.

The exact origin of this onomatopoeic or echoic verb is lost. Could it be a nursery word for shiver? It seems to echo the brrr sound with which some English speakers indicate that they are feeling the cold.

In any case, succinct aptness merits its wider dispersal.

Snowmobilers ought to bivver as they juggernaut smelly, whining engines over pristine snow mounds and perhaps rare plants beneath the snow.

 

 

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