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June 29, 2025 9:09 am
The exclamation shiver me timbers! has nothing to do with being cold. A different verb shiver means “to shatter into small pieces,” and timbers refers to the wooden beams that make up the structure of a ship's hull and ribs. Sailors once used phrases like may God smite my timbers! or may God split my timbers! or simply my timbers! as a kind of mild oath, invoking one of the worst things that can happen to someone at sea. In Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island (Bookshop|Amazon), Long John Silver also says things like shiver my sides! and shiver my soul! This is part of a complete episode.