What does the expression "a shiver of" mean or imply? [closed]

Solution 1:

Sometimes the preposition of conveys a relationship of agency, means, or cause and effect (see "of, prep." in the Oxford English Dictionary). For instance, in a phrase like

a shiver of excitement,

excitement may be the cause of the shiver or the occasion for the shiver; of helps describe from what state the shiver comes. That usage may be somewhat restrictive; many results for "shiver of" in the Corpus of Contemporary American English focus on emotional or physical states that would cause someone to shiver, including but not limited to

• shiver of amusement
• shiver of revulsion
• shiver or fear
• shiver of discomfort
• shiver of anticipation
• shiver of chagrin
• shiver of disgust

That said, the usage isn't strictly limited to personal states. I also see the following results:

a gentle shiver of wind blowing over them

the hull ripples like a shiver of feathers

the thrilling shiver of the reaper passing close

the singing shiver of his whammy bar

a complex shiver of muscles

So I read a shiver of current in the extended sense like shiver of wind - the current is the cause of the shiver or helps characterize the shiver. It is a trembling brought about by electric current (if we read it literally) or a trembling analogous to that of electric current (if we read it as part of the metaphor construing cells as circuit boards). That makes sense in the fuller context of describing neurons firing off:

There is a network of neurons in the brain, and the network shifts. All of a sudden, electricity flows in an unfamiliar pattern, a shiver of current across a circuit board of cells.