{"id":8830,"date":"2022-01-17T13:55:17","date_gmt":"2022-01-17T12:55:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/?p=30283"},"modified":"2022-01-17T14:13:25","modified_gmt":"2022-01-17T13:13:25","slug":"what-is-the-origin-and-meaning-of-the-pirate-expression-shiver-me-timbers","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistory\/rss_feed\/what-is-the-origin-and-meaning-of-the-pirate-expression-shiver-me-timbers\/","title":{"rendered":"What is the origin and meaning of the pirate expression \u2018shiver me timbers\u2019?"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>

By Charlotte Hodgman\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Monday, 17 January 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

\n\n

This stereotypically piratical expression found fame in Disney\u2019s 1950 adaptation of Treasure Island<\/em>, in which Robert Newton\u2019s irascible Long John Silver uttered it in his native west country accent<\/a> to exclaim shock and surprise (\u201chere\u2019s Jim Hawkins, shiver my timbers!\u201d).<\/p>\n

The phrase wasn\u2019t Newton\u2019s invention. It had in fact been used several times in Robert Louis Stevenson\u2019s original book, published in 1883, together with variations like \u2018shiver my sides\u2019 and \u2018shake up your timbers\u2019. Its first appearance in print, however, came even earlier, in Captain Frederick Marryat\u2019s 1834 novel, Jacob Faithful<\/em> (\u201cI won\u2019t thrash you Tom. Shiver me timbers if I do\u201d).<\/p>\n

On the podcast: Dr Rebecca Simon responds to your questions on the 17th-century golden age of piracy. Plus, how accurate are pop culture portrayals of pirates?<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div> <hr\/>It\u2019s almost impossible to know whether pirates (or any seafarers) actually used the phrase, or if it lived only on the pages of Victorian adventure novels. But its meaning is clear enough.<\/p>\nThe word \u2018shiver\u2019 is defined in the Oxford English Dictionary as \u201cto break into small fragments or splinters\u201d while the \u2018timbers\u2019 refer to the wooden support frames of old sailing ships.<\/p>\nSo the saying \u2018shiver me timbers\u2019 was most likely alluding to the shock of a large wave or cannonball smashing into the ship and causing the hull to shudder or split asunder.<\/p>\n<section class=\""highlight\"><div class=\""highlight__content\" editor-content=\"\"> This content is part of our series of pirate myths \u2013 read the rest in the series:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul><li><a href=\""https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/period\/stuart\/peg-leg-pirates-real-eyepatches"\">Did any real pirates wear eyepatches or have peg legs?<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><a href=\""https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/period\/stuart\/walk-plank-real-punishment"\">Was walking the plank a real pirate punishment?<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><a href=\""https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/period\/stuart\/x-marks-spot-did-pirates-bury-treasure"\">X marks the spot: did pirates bury their treasure?<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><a href=\""https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/period\/stuart\/jolly-roger-skull-crossbones-pirate-flags"\">Did real pirates fly the Jolly Roger?<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><a href=\""https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/period\/victorian\/what-is-the-origin-and-meaning-of-the-pirate-expression-shiver-me-timbers\/"\">What is the origin and meaning of the pirate expression \u2018shiver me timbers\u2019?<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><a href=\""https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/period\/stuart\/english-pirates-accent-west-country-blackbeard\/"\">Did most English pirates really talk with a West Country accent?<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul> <\/p><\/div> <\/section>Answered by Dan Cossins, freelance journalist<\/strong><\/p>\nThis article was first published by BBC History Magazine in 2010<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/body><\/html>\n<hr class=\"no-tts wp-block-separator\"\/>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Charlotte Hodgman Published: Monday, 17 January 2022 at 12:00 am This stereotypically piratical expression found fame in Disney\u2019s 1950 adaptation of Treasure Island, in which Robert Newton\u2019s irascible Long John Silver uttered it in his native west country accent to exclaim shock and surprise (\u201chere\u2019s Jim Hawkins, shiver my timbers!\u201d). The phrase wasn\u2019t Newton\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":8831,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"2"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2022\/01\/what-is-the-origin-and-meaning-of-the-pirate-expression-shiver-me-timbers.jpg",800,530,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2022\/01\/what-is-the-origin-and-meaning-of-the-pirate-expression-shiver-me-timbers-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2022\/01\/what-is-the-origin-and-meaning-of-the-pirate-expression-shiver-me-timbers-300x199.jpg",300,199,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2022\/01\/what-is-the-origin-and-meaning-of-the-pirate-expression-shiver-me-timbers-768x509.jpg",768,509,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2022\/01\/what-is-the-origin-and-meaning-of-the-pirate-expression-shiver-me-timbers.jpg",800,530,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2022\/01\/what-is-the-origin-and-meaning-of-the-pirate-expression-shiver-me-timbers.jpg",800,530,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2022\/01\/what-is-the-origin-and-meaning-of-the-pirate-expression-shiver-me-timbers.jpg",800,530,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistory\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Charlotte Hodgman Published: Monday, 17 January 2022 at 12:00 am This stereotypically piratical expression found fame in Disney\u2019s 1950 adaptation of Treasure Island, in which Robert Newton\u2019s irascible Long John Silver uttered it in his native west country accent to exclaim shock and surprise (\u201chere\u2019s Jim Hawkins, shiver my timbers!\u201d). The phrase wasn\u2019t Newton\u2019s…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/8830"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8831"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8830"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8830"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}