“Quiver” is a fittingly dramatic word for one of the most recognizable snakes on the planet, and it works on two levels. It can suggest the trembling apprehension a person feels facing down a hooded cobra mid-display, or, more literally, the way a cobra’s raised hood and upper body sway and tremble when it’s agitated.
Cobras, which include species like the king cobra, Indian cobra, and various spitting cobras across Africa and Asia, are mostly solitary hunters. True group behavior is rare and usually circumstantial, several individuals drawn to the same rich hunting ground, a shared shelter, or, briefly, a mating season encounter. The word “quiver” isn’t describing a cobra society; it’s describing what it feels like to be nearby when more than one shows up.
The hood itself, formed by extending elongated ribs behind the head, is a warning display meant to make the snake look larger and more threatening, exactly the kind of behavior that makes “quiver” feel earned.
Example: “The snake handlers moved carefully around what locals were calling a quiver of cobras near the old grain store.”
Related: Collective Nouns for Reptiles · What Is a Group of Cobras Called?