Noah Webster’s 1828 Dictionary
QUESTIONER — QUIRPELE
QUESTIONER, n. One that asks questions; an inquirer.
QUESTIONING, ppr. Interrogating; calling in question; doubting.
QUESTIONIST, n. A questioner; an inquirer.
QUESTIONLESS, adv. Beyond a question or doubt; doubtless; certainly.
QUESTMAN, QUESTMONGER, n. A starter of lawsuits or prosecutions. [Not used.]
QUESTOR, n. [L. quaestor. See Quest and Query.]
In Roman antiquity, an officer who had the management of the public treasure; the receiver of taxes, tribute, etc.
QUESTORSHIP, n.
1. The office of a questor or Roman treasurer.
2. The term of a questor’s office.
QUESTRIST, n. A seeker; a pursuer. [Not in use.]
QUESTUARY, a. Studious of profit.
QUESTUARY, n. One employed to collect profits.
QUEUE. [See Cue.]
QUIB, n.
A sarcasm; a bitter taunt; a quip; a gibe.
QUIBBLE, n.
1. A start or turn from the point in question, or from plain truth; an evasion; a cavil; a pretense; as, to answer a sound argument by quibbles.
Quirks and quibbles have no place in the search after truth.
2. A pun; a low conceit.
QUIBBLE, v.i.
1. To evade the point in question, or plain truth, by artifice, play upon words, caviling or any conceit; to trifle in argument or discourse.
2. To pun.
QUIBBLER, n.
1. One who evades plain truth by trifling artifices, play upon words, or cavils.
2. A punster.
QUICK, v.i.
To stir; to move. [Not in use.]
QUICK, a. [If q is a dialectical prefix, as I suppose, this word coincides with the L. vigeo, vegeo, and vig, veg, radical, coincide with wag.]
1. Primarily, alive; living; opposed to dead or unanimated; as quick flesh. Leviticus 13:10.
The Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead. 2 Timothy 4:1.
[In this sense, the word is obsolete, except in some compounds or in particular phrases.]
2. Swift; hasty; done with celerity; as quick dispatch.
3. Speedy; done or occurring in a short time; as a quick return of profits.
Oft he to her his charge of quick return repeated.
4. Active; brisk; nimble; prompt ready. He is remarkably quick in his motions. He is a man of quick parts.
5. Moving with rapidity or celerity; as quick time in music.
Quick with child, pregnant with a living child.
QUICK, adv.
1. Nimbly; with celerity; rapidly; with haste; speedily; without delay; as, run quick; be quick.
If we consider how very quick the actions of the mind are performed.
2. Soon; in a short time; without delay. Go, and return quick.
QUICK, n.
1. A living animal. Obs.
2. The living flesh; sensible parts; as penetrating to the quick; stung to the quick; cut to the quick.
3. Living shrubs or trees; as a ditch or bank set with quick.
QUICK, v.t. To revive; to make alive. Obs.
QUICK, v.i. To become alive. Obs.
QUICK-BEAM, QUICKEN-TREE, n. A tree, the wild sorb, a species of wild ash.
The Sorbus aucuparia, or mountain ash, a species of service tree.
QUICKEN, v.t. quik’n.
1. Primarily, to make alive; to vivify; to revive or resuscitate, as from death or an inanimate state. Romans 4:17.
Hence flocks and herds, and men and beasts and fowls, with breath are quicken’d and attract their souls.
2. To make alive in a spiritual sense; to communicate a principle of grace to.
You hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins. Ephesians 2:1.
3. To hasten; to accelerate; as, to quicken motion, speed or flight.
4. To sharpen; to give keener perception to; to stimulate; to incite; as, to quicken the appetite or taste; to quicken desires.
5. To revive; to cheer; to reinvigorate; to refresh by new supplies of comfort or grace. Psalm 119:25.
QUICKEN, v.i. quik’n.
1. To become alive.
The heart is the first part that quickens, and the last that dies.
2. To move with rapidity or activity.
And keener lightning quickens in her eye.
QUICKENED, pp.
1. Made alive; revived; vivified; reinvigorated.
2. Accelerated; hastened.
3. Stimulated; incited.
QUICKENER, n.
1. One who revives, vivifies, or communicates life.
2. That which reinvigorates.
3. That which accelerates motion or increases activity.
QUICKENING, ppr. Giving life; accelerating; inciting.
QUICK-EYED, a. Having acute sight; of keen and ready perception.
QUICK-GRASS. [See Quitch-grass.]
QUICKLIME, n. [See Lime.] Any calcarious substance deprived of its fixed or carbonic air, or an earthy substance calcined; as chalk, limestone, oyster-shells, etc.; unslaked lime. Calcarious stones and shells are reduced to quicklime by being subjected for a considerable time to intense heat, which expels the carbonic and aqeuous matter.
QUICKLY, adv.
1. Speedily; with haste or celerity.
2. Soon; without delay.
QUICK-MATCH, n. [See Match.] A combustible preparation formed of cotton strands dipped in a boiling composition of white vinegar, saltpeter and mealed powder; used by artillerymen.
QUICKNESS, n.
1. Speed; velocity; celerity; rapidity; as the quickness of motion.
2. Activity; briskness; promptness, as the quickness of the imagination or wit.
3. Acuteness of perception; keep sensibility; as quickness of sensation.
4. Sharpness; pungency.
QUICKSAND, n.
1. Sand easily moved or readily yielding to pressure, loose sand abounding with water.
2. Unsolid ground.
QUICKSCENTED, a. Having an acute perception by the nose; of an acute smell.
QUICKSET, n. A living plant set to grow, particularly for a hedge.
QUICKSET, v.t. To plant with living shrubs or trees for a hedge or fence; as, to quickset a ditch.
QUICK-SIGHTED, a. Having quick sight or acute discernment; quick to see or discern.
QUICKSIGHTEDNESS, n. Quickness of sight or discernment; readiness to see or discern.
QUICKSILVER, n. [that is, living silver, argentum vivum, so called from its fluidity.]
Mercury, a metal found both native and in the state of ore, in mines, in various parts of the world, and so remarkably fusible as to be congealable only with the intense cold indicated by 39 degrees or 40 degrees below zero, on Fahrenheit’s thermometer. It is the heaviest of the metals, next to platina and gold. It is used in various arts and in medicine.
QUICKSILVERED, a. Overlaid with quicksilver.
QUICK-WITTED, a. Having ready wit.
QUID, n. A vulgar pronunciation of cud; as a quid of tobacco.
QUIDAM, n. [L.] Somebody. [Not in use.]
QUIDDANY, n. [L. cydonium.]
Marmalade; a confection of quinces prepared with sugar.
QUIDDATIVE, a. Constituting the essence of a thing.
QUIDDIT, n. [L. quidlibet.] A subtilty; an equivocation. [Not in use.]
QUIDDITY, n. [L. quid, what.]
1. A barbarous term used in school philosophy for essence, that unknown and undefinable something which constitutes its peculiar nature, or answers the question, quidest? The essence of a thing constitutes it tale quid, such a thing as it is, and not another.
2. A trifling nicety; a cavil; a captious question.
QUIDNUNC, n. [L. what now.] One who is curious to know every thing that passes; one who knows or pretends to know all occurrences.
Quid pro quo, [L.] in law, an equivalent; something given or done for another thing; mutual consideration and performance.
QUIESCE, v.i. quiess’. [L. quiesco.] To be silent, as a letter; to have no sound.
QUIESCENCE, QUIESCENCY, n. [L. quiescens, quiesco. See Quiet.]
1. Rest; repose; state of a thing without motion.
2. Rest of the mind; a state of the mind free from agitation or emotion.
3. Silence; the having no sound; as of a letter.
QUIESCENT, a. [L. quiescens.]
1. Resting being in a state of repose; still: not moving; as a quiescent body or fluid.
2. Not ruffled with passion; unagitated; as the mind.
3. Silent; not sounded; having no sound; as a quiescent letter. Sow mow, with w quiescent; say, day, with y quiescent.
QUIESCENT, n. A silent letter.
QUIET, a. [L. quietus.]
1. Still; being in a state of rest; now moving. Judges 16:2.
2. Still; free from alarm or disturbance; unmolested; as a quiet life.
In his days the land was quiet ten years. 2 Chronicles 14:1.
3. Peaceable; not turbulent; not giving offense; not exciting controversy, disorder or trouble; mild; meek; contented.
The ornament of a meek and quiet spirit. 1 Peter 3:4; 1 Thessalonians 4:11.
4. Calm; not agitated by wind; as a quiet sea or atmosphere.
5. Smooth; unruffled.
6. Undisturbed; unmolested; as the quiet possession or enjoyment of an estate.
7. Not crying; not restless; as a quiet child.
QUIET, n. [L. quies.]
1. Rest; repose; stillness; the state of a thing not in motion.
2. Tranquility; freedom from disturbance or alarm; civil or political repose. Our country enjoys quiet.
3. Peace; security. Judges 18:7, 27.
QUIET, v.t.
1. To stop motion; to still; to reduce to a state of rest; as, to quiet corporeal motion.
2. To calm; to appease; to pacify; to lull; to tranquilize; as, to quiet the soul when agitated; to quiet the passions; to quiet the clamors of a nation; to quiet the disorders of a city or town.
3. To allay; to suppress; as, to quiet pain or grief.
QUIETED, pp. Made still; calmed; pacified.
QUIETER, n. The person or thing that quiets.
QUIETING, ppr. Reducing to rest or stillness; appeasing; tranquilizing.
QUIETISM, n. Peace or tranquility of mind; apathy; dispassion; indisturbance; inaction. In history, quietism is the system of the quietists, who maintained that religion consists in the internal rest or recollection of the mind, employed in contemplating God and submitting to his will.
QUIETIST, n. One of a sect of mystics, originated by Molino, a Spanish priest, who maintained the principles of quietism.
QUIETLY, adv.
1. In a quiet state; without motion; in a state of rest; as, to lie or sit quietly.
2. Without tumult, alarm, dispute or disturbance; peaceably; as, to live quietly.
3. Calmly; without agitation or violent emotion; patiently. submit quietly to unavoidable evils.
QUIETNESS, n.
1. A state of rest; stillness.
2. Calm; tranquility; as the quietness of the ocean or atmosphere.
3. Freedom from agitation or emotion; calmness; coolness; as the quietness of the mind.
4. Freedom from disturbance, disorder or commotion; peace; tranquility; as the quietness of a city or state.
QUIETSOME, a. Calm; still; undisturbed. [Not in use.]
QUIETUDE, n. Rest; repose; quiet; tranquility.
QUIETUS, n. [L.] Rest; repose; death; hence, a final discharge or acquittance; that which silences claims.
QUILL, n. [L. calamus.]
1. The large strong feather of a goose or other large fowl; used much for writing pens. Hence,
2. The instrument of writing; as the proper subject of his quill.
3. The spine or prickle of a porcupine.
4. A piece of small reed or other hollow plant, or which weavers wind the thread which forms the woof of cloth.
5. The instrument with which musicians strike the strings of certain instruments.
To carry a good quill, to write well.
QUILL, v.t. To plait, or to form with small ridges like quills or reeds; as a woolen stuff quilled.
[In the United States, this word is generally, if not universally, pronounced twilled.]
QUILLET, n. [L. quidlibet, what you please.]
Subtilty; nicety; fraudulent distinction; petty cant. [Not much used.]
QUILT, n. [L. culcita.]
A cover or garment made by putting wool, cotton or other substance between two cloths and sewing them together; as beds covered with magnificent quilts.
QUILT, v.t.
1. To stitch together two pieces of cloth with some soft and warm substance between them; as a quilted bedcover; a quilted coat.
2. To sew in the manner of a quilt.
QUILTED, pp. Stitched together, as two pieces of cloth, with a soft substance between them.
QUILTING, ppr. Stitching together, as two cloths, with some soft substance between them.
QUILTING, n.
1. The act of forming a quilt.
2. In New England, the act of quilting by a collection of females who bestow their labor gratuitously to aid a female friend, and conclude with an entertainment.
QUINARY, a. [L. quinarius, from quinque, five.] Consisting of five. Consisting of five; as a quinary number.
QUINATE, a. [from L. quinque.] In botany, a quinate leaf is a sort of digitate leaf having five leaflets on a petiole.
QUINCE, n. quins. [L. cydonius.]
The fruit of the Pyrus cydonia, so named from Cydonia, a town of Crete, famous for abounding with this fruit. One species of this fruit is of an oblong shape, from which probably it has its French name.
QUINCE, QUINCE-TREE, n. The tree which produces the quince.
QUINCH, v.i. [probably a vulgar pronunciation of wince or winch.] To stir, wince or flounce. [Not in use.]
QUINCUNCIAL, a. [from L. quincunx.] Having the form of a quincunx.
QUINCUNX, n. [L. composed of quinque, five, and uncia, ounce.]
In gardening, the quincunx order is a plantation of trees disposed in a square, consisting of five trees, one at each corner and a fifth in the middle, thus :.:; which order repeated indefinitely, forms a regular grove or wood, which viewed by an angle of the square or parallelogram, presents equal or parallel alleys.
QUINDECAGON, n. [L. quinque, five Gr. ten, and angle.]
In geometry, a plain figure with fifteen sides and fifteen angles.
QUINDECEMVIR, n. [L. quinque, five, decem, ten, and vir, man.]
In Roman history, one of a collection or body of fifteen magistrates, whose business was to preside over the sacrifices.
QUINDECEMVIRATE, n. The body of fifteen magistrates, of their office.
QUINIA, QUININE, n. In pharmacy, a substance prepared from yellow bark possessing in a concentrated form, the tonic virtues of the bark, and capable of forming salts with acids. One of these, the sulphate of quinine, is much employed in intermittent fevers and other diseases, where powerful tonics are required.
QUINQUAGESIMA, n. [L. fifty.] Quinquagesima Sunday, so called as being about the fiftieth day before Easter; Shrove Sunday.
QUINQUANGULAR, a. [L. quinque, five, and angulus, angle.] Having five angles or corners.
QUINQUARTICULAR, a. [L. quinque, five, and articulus, article.] Consisting of five articles. [Little used.]
QUINQUECAPSULAR, a. [L. quinque, five, and capsula, a little chest.]
In botany, having five capsules to a flower; as a quinquecapsular pericarp.
QUINQUEDENTATE, a. [L. quinque, five, and dentatus, toothed; dens, tooth.] In botany, five-toothed.
QUINQUEFARIOUS, a. [L. quinque, five. Eng. to fare, or from the root of vary.] In botany, opening into five parts.
QUINQUEFID, a. [L. quinque, five, and findo, to split.]
In botany, five-cleft; cut into five segments with linear sinuses and straight margins; as a leaf.
QUINQUEFOLIATED, a. [L. quinque, five, and folium, leaf.] having five leaves.
QUINQUELITERAL, a. [L. quinque, five, and litera, letter.] Consisting of five letters.
QUINQUELOBATE, QUINQUELOBED, a. [L. quinque, five, and lobus, lobe.]
Five-lobed; divided to the middle into five distinct parts with convex margins.
QUINQUELOCULAR, a. [L. quinque, five, and loculus, a cell.]
Five-celled; having five cells; as a pericarp.
QUINQUENNIAL, a. [L. quinquennalis, quinquennis; quinque, five, and annus, year.] Occurring once in five years, or lasting five years.
QUINQUEPARTITE, a. [L. quinque, five, and partitus, divided.]
1. Divided into five parts almost to the base.
2. Consisting of two parts.
QUINQUEREME, n. [L. quinque, five, and remus, oar.]
A galley having five seats or rows of oars.
QUINQUEVALVE, QUINQUEVALVULAR, a. [L. quinque, five, and valve, valves.] Having five valves, as a pericarp.
QUINQUEVIR, n. [L. quinque, five, and vir, man.] One of an order of five priests in Rome.
QUINSY, n. s as z.
1. An inflammation of the throat; a species of angina which renders respiration difficult, or intercepts it.
2. An inflammation of the fauces, particularly of the tonsils.
QUINT, n. [from L. quintus, fifth.] A set of sequence of five; as in piquet.
QUINTAIN, n. A post with a turning top.
QUINTAL, n. [L. centum, a hundred.]
A hundred pounds in weight; or a weight of that number of pounds; sometimes written and pronounced kentle.
QUINTESSENCE, n. [L. quinta essentia, fifth essence.]
1. In alchimy, the fifth or last and highest essence of power in a natural body. Hence,
2. An extract from any thing, containing its virtues or most essential part in a small quantity.
Let there be light, said God; and forthwith light etherial, first of things, quintessence pure, sprung from the deep.
3. In chimistry, a preparation consisting of the essential oil of a vegetable substance, mixed and incorporated with spirit of wine.
4. The pure essential part of a thing.
[I have followed Bailey and Ash and our general usage in the accentuation of this word. Jameson has done the same. The accent on the first syllable is very unnatural.]
QUINTESSENTIAL, a. Consisting of quintessence.
QUINTILE, n. [L. quintus, fifth.] The aspect of planets when distant from each other the fifth part of the zodiac, or 72 degrees.
QUINTIN, n.
An upright post on the top of which turned a cross piece, on one end of which was fixed a broad board, and on the other a sand bag. The play was to tilt on ride against the broad end with a lance, and pass without being struck by the sand bag behind.
QUINTUPLE, a. [L. quintuplus, fivefold; quintus and plico.]
Fivefold; containing five times the amount.
QUIP, n.
A smart sarcastic turn; a taunt; a severe retort.
QUIP, v.t. To taunt; to treat with a sarcastic retort.
QUIP, v.i. To scoff.
QUIRE, n. [L. chorus; Gr.]
1. A body of singers; a chorus. [See Chorus and Choir.]
2. The part of a church where the service is sung.
QUIRE, n.
A collection of paper consisting of twenty four sheets, each having a single fold.
QUIRE, v.i. To sing in concert or chorus.
QUIRISTER, n. One that sings in concert; more generally, the leader of a quire, particularly in divine service; a chorister. But in America, this word is little used and vulgar. The word used is chorister.
QUIRITATION, n. [L. quirtatio, from quirito, from queror.] A crying for help. [Not used.]
QUIRK, n. quurk.
1. Literally, a turn; a starting from the point or line; hence, an artful turn for evasion or subterfuge; a shift; a quibble; as the quirks of a pettifogger.
2. A fit or turn; a short paroxysm; as a quirk of joy or grief.
3. A smart taunt or retort.
I may chance to have some odd quirks and remnants of wit broken on me.
4. A slight conceit or quibble.
5. A flight of fancy. [Not in use.]
6. An irregular air; as light quirks of music.
7. In building, a piece of ground taken out of any regular ground-plot or floor, as to mark a court or yard, etc.
QUIRKISH, a.
1. Consisting of quirks, turns, quibbles or artful evasions.
2. Resembling a quirk.