Dictionary of Phrase and Fable
E. Cobham Brewer From The Edition Of 1894
the seventeenth letter of the English alphabet, and nineteenth of the Phcenician and Hebrew. In English q is invariably followed by u except in the transliteration of some Arabic words, as in Qatar. Qu in English normally represents the sound kw as in quinquennial but occasionally k as in perique, grotesque, and quay (pro- nounced ke). Without the u it is pro- nounced k as in Iraq. Formerly, in Scotland, qu replaced hw as in quhat, or hwat (what).
Q as a medireval Latin numeral represents 500.
Q In Biblical criticism, the symbol used for the
theoretical document used by MATTHEW or LUKE or both. In the
SYNOPTIC GOSPELS there is much material common to both Matthew
and Luke, which is designated "Q" (usually held to be the German
QueUe, source). These passages mainly consist of the
sayings of Jesus.
Q The nom de plume of Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch (1863-1944), Cornish author and novelist, King Edward VII Professor of English Literature at Cam- bridge (1912-1944) and editor of the Oxford Book of English Verse.
Old Q William Douglas, third Earl of March, and fourth Duke of Queensberry (1724-1810), notorious for his dissolute life and escapades, especially on the TURF.
Q in a corner
Something not seen at first, but subsequently brought to notice. The thong to which seals are attached in legal documents is in French called the queue; thus we have lettres scellées sur simple queue or sur double queue, according to whether they bear one or two seals. In documents where the seal is attached to the deed itself, the corner where the seal is placed is called the queue, and when the document is sworn—to the finger is laid on the queue.
In a merry Q (cue). Humour, temper; thus Shakespeare says, “My cue is villanous melancholy” (King Lear,
i. 2).
Old Q. The fifth Earl of March, afterwards Duke of Queensberry.
Q.E.D
Quod erat demonstrandum. Three letters appended to the theorems of Euclid, meaning: Thus have we proved the proposition stated above, as we were required to do.
Q.E.F
Quod erat faciendum. Three letters appended to the problems of Euclid, meaning: Thus have we done or drawn the figure required by the proposition.
Q.P
Quantum placet. Two letters used in prescriptions, meaning the quantity may be as little or much as you like. Thus, in a cup of tea we might say “Milk and suger q.p.“
Q.S
Quantum sufficit. Two letters appended to prescriptions, and meaning as much as is required to make the pills up. Thus, after giving the drugs in minute proportions, the apothecary is told to “mix these articles in liquorice q.s“
Q.V
(Latin, quantum vis). As much as you like, or quantum valeat, as much as is proper. q.v. (Latin, quod vide ). Which see.
Quack
or Quack Doctor; once called quack—salver. A puffer of salves. (Swedish, qvak—salfearë; Norwegian, qvak—salver; German, quacksalber.)
“Saltimbancoes, quacksalvers, and charlatans deceive the vulgar.”— Sir Thomas Browne.
Quacks
Queen Anne's quack oculists were William Read (tailor), who was knighted, and Dr. Grant (tinker).
Quad
To be in quad. To be confined to your college—grounds or quadrangle; to be in prison.
Quadra
The border round a bas—relief.
In the Santa Croce of Florence is a quadra round a bas relief representing the Madonna, in white terracotta. Several other figures are introduced.
Quadragesima Sunday
The Sunday immediately preceding Lent; so called because it is, in round numbers, the fortieth day before Easter.
Quadragesimals
The farthings or payments made in commutation of a personal visit to the mother—church on Mid—Lent Sunday; also called Whitsun farthings.
Quadrilateral
The four fortresses of Peschiera and Mantua on the Mincio, with Verona and Legnago on the Adigë. Now demolished.
The Prussian Quadrilateral. The fortresses of Luxemburg, Coblentz, Sarrelouis, and Mayence.
Quadrille
(2 syl., French) means a small square; a dance in which the persons place themselves in a square. Introduced into England in 1813 by the Duke of Devonshire. (Latin, quadrum, a square.)
Le Pantalon. So called from the tune to which it used to be danced. L'Éte. From a country—dance called pas d'été, very fashionable in 1800; which it resembles. La poule. Derived from a country—dance produced by Julien in 1802, the second part of which began with the imitation of a cock—crow.
Trenise. The name of a dancing—master who, in 1800, invented the figure. La pastourelle. So named from its melody and accompaniment, which are similar to the vilanelles or peasants' dances.
Quadriloge
(3 syl.). Anything written in four parts or books, as Childe Harold Anything compiled from four authors, as the Life of Thomas à Becket. Any history resting on the testimony of four independent authorities, as The Gospel History.
“The very authors of the Quadriloge itselfe or song of foure parts ... doe all with one pen and mouth acknowledge the same”— Lambarde: Perambulation, p. 55.
Quadrivium
The four higher subjects of scholastic philosophy up to the twelfth century. It embraced music, arithmetic, geometry, and astronomy. The quadrivium was the “fourfold way” to knowledge; the trivium (q.v.) the “threefold way” to eloquence; both together comprehended the seven arts or sciences. The seven arts are enumerated in the following hexameter:—
“Lingua, Tropus, Ratio, Numerus, Tonus, Angulus, Astra.”
And in the two following:—
“Gram. loquitur, Dia. vera docet, Rhet. verba colorat. Mus. cadit, Ar. numerat, Geo. ponderat, Ast. colit astra.”
Quadroon'
A person with one—fourth of black blood; the offspring of a mulatto woman by a white man. The mulatto is half—blooded, one parent being white and the other black. (Latin, quatuor, four.) (See Lamb .)
Quadruple Alliance of 1674
Germany, Spain, Denmark, and Holland formed an alliance against France to resist the encroachments of Louis XIV., who had declared war against Holland. It terminated with the treaty of Nimeguen in 1678.
Quadruple Alliance of 1718—1719. An alliance between England, France, Germany, and Holland, to guarantee the succession in England to the House of Hanover; to secure the succession in France to the House of Bourbon; and to prohibit Spain and France from uniting under one crown. Signed at Paris.
Quadruple Alliance of 1834. The alliance of England, France, Spain, and Portugal for the purpose of restoring peace to the Peninsula, by putting down the Carlists or partisans of Don Carlos.
Quaestio Vexata
An open question.
Quail
A bird, said to be very salacious, hence a prostitute or courtesan.
“Here's Agamemnon, an honest fellow enough, and one that loves quails.”— Shakespeare: Troilus and Cressida, v. 1.
The Ilaid of Homer is based on the story that Agamemnon, being obliged to give up his mistress, took the mistress of Achilles to supply her place. This brought about a quarrel between Agamemnon and Achilles, and Achilles refused to have anything more to do with the siege of Troy.
Quaint
means odd, peculiar. A quaint phrase means a fanciful phrase, one not expressed in the ordinary way.
“His garment was very quaint and odd; ... a long, long way behind the time.”— Dickens: Christmas Stories; Cricket on the Hearth, chap. i.
Quaker It appears from the Journal of George Fox, who was imprisoned for nearly twelve months in Derby, that the Quakers first obtained the appellation (1650) by which they are now known from the following circumstance:— “Justice Bennet, of Derby,” says Fox, “was the first to call us Quakers, because I bade him quake and tremble at the word of the Lord.” The system of the Quakers is laid down by Robert Barclay in fifteen theses, called Barclay's Apology, addressed to Charles II.
“Quakers (that, like lanterns, bear
Their light within them) will not swear.”
Butler: Hudibras, ii. 2.
Qualm
A sudden fit of illness, or sickly languor. Hence, a qualm of conscience = a twinge or uneasiness of conscience.
Quandary
A perplexity; a state of hesitation.
Quanquam
or Cancan. A slang manner of dancing quadrilles permitted in the public gardens of Paris, etc. The word cancan is a corruption of the Latin quamquam, a term applied to the exercises delivered by young theological students before the divinity professors. Hence it came to signify “babble,” “jargon,” anything crude, jejune, etc.
Quarantine
(3 syl.). The forty days that a ship suspected of being infected with some contagious disorder is obliged to lie off port. (Italian, quarantina, forty; French, quarantaine.)
To perform quarantine is to ride off port during the time of quarantine. (See Forty.)
Quarll
(Philip). A sort of Robinson Crusoe, who had a chimpanzee for his “man Friday.” The story relates the adventures and sufferings of an English hermit named Philip Quarll.
Quarrel
A short, stout arrow used in the crossbow. (A corruption of carrial; Welsh, chwarel; French, carreau. So called because the head was originally carré or four—sided. Hence also a quarrel or quarry of glass, meaning a square or diamond—shaped pane; quarier, a square wax—candle, etc.)
“Quarelles qwayntly swappez thorowe knyghtez
With iryne so wekyrly, that wynche they never.” Morte d'Arthure.
Quarrel
To quarrel over the bishop's cope— over something which cannot possibly do you any good; over goat's wool. This is a French expression. The newly—appointed Bishop of Bruges entered the town in his cope, which he gave to the people; and the people, to part it among themselves, tore it to shreds, each taking a piece.
Quarrel with your Bread and Butter
(To). To act contrary to your best interest; to snarl at that which procures your living, like a spoilt child, who shows its ill—temper by throwing its bread and butter to the ground. To cut off your nose to be avenged on your face.
Quarry
(A). The place where stone, marble, etc., are dug out and squared. (French, quarré, formed into square blocks.) (Tomlinson.)
Quarry
Prey. This is a term in falconry. When a hawk struck the object of pursuit and clung to it, she was said to “bind;” but when she flew off with it, she was said to “carry.” The “carry” or “quarry,” therefore, means the prey carried off by the hawk. It is an error to derive this word from the Latin quaero (to seek).
“To tell the manner of it,
Were on the quarry of these murdered deer
To add the death of you.”
Shakespeare: Macbeth, iv. 3.
Quart d'Heure
(Mauvais). A time of annoyance. The time between the arrival of the guests and the announcement of dinner is emphatically called the mauvais quart d'heure; but the phrase has a much larger application; thus we say the Cabinet Ministers must have had a mauvais quart d'heure when opening a number of telegrams of a troublesome character.
Quarter
To grant quarter. To spare the life of an enemy in your power. Dr. Tusler says:— “It originated from an agreement anciently made between the Dutch and the Spaniards, that the ransom of a soldier should be the quarter of his pay.” (French, donner and demander quartier.)
Quarter—days in England and Ireland:—
(1) New Style: Lady Day (March 25th), Midsummer Day (June 24th), Michaelmas Day (September 29th), and Christmas Day (December 25th).
(2) Old Style: Old Lady Day (April 6th), Old Midsummer Day (July 6th), Old Michaelmas Day (October 11th), and Old Christmas Day (January 6th).
Quarter—days in Scotland:—
Candlemas Day (February 2nd), Whit—Sunday (May 15th), Lammas Day (August 1st), and Martinmas Day (Nov. 11).
Quarter Waggoner
A book of seacharts. Waggoner, or rather Baron von Waggonaer, is a folio volume of seacharts, pointing out the coasts, rocks, routes, etc. Dalrymple's Charts are called The English Waggoner. “Quarter” is a corruption of quarto
Quarters
Residence or place of abode; as, winter quarters, the place where an army lodges during the winter months. We say “this quarter of the town,” meaning this district or part; the French speak of the Latin Quartier— i.e. the district or part of Paris where the medical schools, etc., are located; the Belgians speak of quartiers a $$$ lodgings to let; and bachelors in England often say, “Come to my quarters”— i.e. apartments. All these are from the French verb écarter (to set apart).
“There shall no leavened bread be seen with thee, neither shall there be leaven seen ... in all thy quarters [any of thy houses].”— Exodus xiii. 7.
Quarterdeck
The upper deck of a ship from the main—mast to the poop; if no poop, then from the main—mast to the stern. In men—of—war it is used as a promenade by officers only.
Quartermaster
The officer whose duty it is to attend to the quarters of the soldiers. He superintends the issue of stores, food, and clothing. (See Quarters .)
As a nautical term, a quartermaster is a petty officer who, besides other duties, attends to the steering of the ship.
Quartered
(See Drawn .)
Quarto
A book half the size of folio— i.e. where each sheet is folded into quarters or four leaves. 4to is the contraction. (The Italian, libro in quarto; French, in quarto; from Latin quartus.)
Quarto—Decimans
who, after the decision of the Nicene Council, maintained that Easter ought to be held on the fourteenth day of the first lunar month near the vernal equinox, whether that day fell on a Sunday or not.
Quashee
A cant generic name of a negro; so called from a negro named Quassi. (See Quassia .)
Quasi (Latin). Something which is not the real thing, but may be accepted in its place; thus a
Quasi contract is not a real contract, but something which may be accepted as a contract, and has the force of one.
Quasi tenant. The tenant of a house sub—let.
Quasimodo
A foundling, hideously deformed, but of amazing strength, in Victor Hugo's Notre Dame de Paris.
Quasimodo Sunday
The first Sunday after Easter; so called because the “Introit" of the day begins with these words:— “Quasi modo geniti infantes” (1 Pet. ii. 2). Also called “Low Sunday,” being the first Sunday after the grand ceremonies of Easter.
Quassia
An American plant, or rather genus of plants, named after Quassi, a negro.
“Linnaeus applied this name to a tree of Surinam in honour of a negro, Quassi, who employed its bark as a remedy for fever; and enjoyed such a reputation among the natives as to be almost worshipped by some,”— Lindley and Moore: Treatise of Botany, part ii. p. 947.)
Quatorziennes
(fourteeners). Persons of recognised position in society who hold themselves in readiness to accept an invitation to dinner when otherwise the number of guests would be thirteen. (See Thirteen .)
Queen
Greek, gyne (a woman); Sanskrit, goni; Swedish, qvenna; Gothic, queins; Anglo—Saxon, cwen. (See Sir .)
Queen, “woman,” is equivalent to “mother.” In the translation of the Bible by Ulfilas (fourth century), we meet with gens and gino (“wife” and “woman"); and in the Scandinavian languages karl and kone still mean “man” and “wife.” (See King.)
“He [Jesus] saith unto His mother, Woman, behold thy son.”— St. John xix. 26.
Queen
(The White). Mary Queen of Scots; so called because she dressed in white mourning for her French husband.
Queen Anne is Dead
The reply made to the teller of stale news.
Queen Anne's Bounty
A fund created out of the firstfruits and tenths, which were part of the papal exactions before the Reformation. The firstfruits are the whole first year's profits of a clerical living, and the tenths are the tenth part annually of the profits of a living. Henry VIII. annexed both these to the Crown, but Queen Anne formed them into a perpetual fund for the augmentation of poor livings and the building of parsonages. The sum equals about 14,000 a year.
Queen Anne's Style
(of architecture). Noted for many angles, gables, quaint features, and irregularity of windows.
Queen Consort
Wife of a reigning king.
Queen Dick
Richard Cromwell is sometimes so called. (See Dick, Greek Calends .)
Queen Dowager
The widow of a deceased king.
Queen Passion
(The Great). Love.
“The gallant Jew
Of mortal hearts the great queen passion knew.” Peter Pimdar: Portfolio; Dinah.
Queen Quintessence
Sovereign of Etéléchie (q.v.), in the romance of Gargantua and Pantagruel, by Rabelais.
Queen Regnant
A queen who holds the crown in her own right, in contradistinction to a Queen Consort, who is queen only because her husband is king.
Queen—Square Hermit
Jeremy Bentham, who lived at No. 1, Queen Square, London. He was the father of the political economists called Utilitarians, whose maxim is, “The greatest happiness of the greatest number.” (1748—1832.)
Queen of Hearts
Elizabeth, daughter of James I. This unfortunate Queen of Bohemia was so called in the Low Countries, from her amiable character and engaging manners, even in her lowest estate. (1596—1662.)
Queen of Heaven
with the ancient Phoenicians, was Astarte; Greeks, Hera; Romans, Juno; Trivia, Hecate, Diana, the Egyptian Isis, etc., were all so called; but with the Roman Catholics it is the Virgin Mary.
In Jeremiah vii. 18: “The children gather wood, ... and the women knead dough to make cakes to the queen of heaven,” i.e. probably to the Moon, to which the Jews, at the time, made drink—offerings and presented cakes. (Compare chapter xliv. 16—18.)
Queen of the Dripping—pan
A cook.
Queen of the Eastern Archipelago
The island of Java.
Queen of the May
A village lass chosen to preside over the parish sports on May Day. Tennyson has a poem on the subject.
Queen of the North
Edinburgh. (See the proper name for other queens.)
Queen of the Northern Seas
Elizabeth, who greatly increased the English navy, and was successful against the Spanish Armada, etc.
Queen's Bench
or King's Bench. One of the courts of law, in which the monarch used to preside in person.
Queen's College
(Oxford), founded in 1340 by Robert de Eglesfield, and so called in compliment to Queen Philippa, whose confessor he was.
Queen's College (Cambridge), founded in 1448 by Margaret of Anjou, consort of Henry VI. Refounded by Elizabeth Woodville.
Queen's Day
November 17th, the day of the accession of Queen Elizabeth, first publicly celebrated in 1570, and still kept as a holiday at the Exchequer, as it was at Westminster school.
Nov. 17 at Merchant Taylors' school is a holiday also, now called Sir Thomas White's Founder's Day.
“A rumour is spread in the court, and bath come to the eares of some of the most honourable counsell, how that I on the Queen's day last past did forbidd in our college an $$$ to bee made in praise of Her Majesty's government, etc.”— Dr. Whittaker to Lord Burghley (May 14th, 1590).
Queen's English (The). Dean Alford wrote a small book on this subject, whence has arisen three or four phrases, such as “clipping the Queen's English,” “murdering the Queen's English,” etc. Queen's English means grammatical English.
Queen's Heads
Postage—stamps which bear a likeness of the Queen's [Victoria's] head. (1895.)
Queen's Pipe
(The). An oven at the Victoria Docks for destroying (by the Inland Revenue authorities) refuse and worthless tobacco. In 1892 the oven was replaced by a furnace.
In the Queen's Warehouse, near the Monument, is a smaller pipe for the destruction of contraband articles.
Queen's Ware
Glazed earthenware of a creamy colour.
Queen's Weather
A fine day for a fête; so called because Queen Victoria is, for the most part, fortunate in having fine weather when she appears in public.
Queenhithe
(London). The hithe or strand for lading and unlading barges and lighters in the city. Called “queen” from being part of the dowry of Eleanor. Queen of Henry II.
Queenstown
(Ireland), formerly called the Cove of Cork. The name was changed in 1850, out of compliment to Queen Victoria, when she visited Ireland with her husband, and created her eldest son Earl of Dublin.
Queer
Counterfeit money.
To shove the queer To pass counterfeit money.
Queer Card
(A). A strange or eccentric person. In whist, etc., when a wrong card is played, the partner says to himself, “That is a queer card,” which, being transferred to the player, means he is a queer card to play in such a manner. Hence any eccentric person, who does not act in accordance with social rules, is a “queer card"
Queer Chap
is the German querkopf, a cross—grained fellow
Queer Street
To live in Queer Street. To be of doubtful solvency. To be one marked in a tradesman's ledger with a quaere (inquire), meaning, make inquiries about this customer.
That has put me in Queer Street. That has posed or puzzled me queerly. In this phrase queer means to puzzle; and Queer Street = puzzledom.
Quency
A corruption of quintefeuil (five—leaved), the armorial device of the family.
Querelle d'Allemand
A contention about trifles, soon provoked and soon appeased. (See Queue .)
Quern—Biter
The sword of Haco I. of Norway. (See Sword .)
“Quern—biter of Hacon the Good,
Wherewith at a stroke he hewed
The millstone through and through
Longfellow.
Querno
Camillo Querno, of Apulia, hearing that Leo X. was a great patron of poets, went to Rome with a harp in his hand, and sang his Alexias, a poem containing 20,000 verses. He was introduced to the Pope as a buffoon, but was promoted to the laurel.
Rome in her Capitol saw Querno sit.
Thronëd on seven hills, the Antichrist of wit.” Dunciad, ii.
Querpo
(2 syl.). Shrill Querpo in Garth's Dispensary, was Dr. Howe.
In querpo. In one's shirt—sleeves, in undress. (Spanish, en cuerpo, without a cloak.)
“Boy, my cloak and rapier; it fits not a gentleman of my rank to walk the streets in querpo.”— Beaumont and Fletcher: Love's Cure, ii. 1.
Questa Cortesissima
(Italian). Most courteous one; a love term used by Dante to Beatrice.
“I set myself to think of that most courteous one (questa cortesissima, and thinking of her there fell upon me a sweet sleep”— Mrs. Oliphant: Makers of Florence (Dante's description).
Questa Gentilissima
(Italian). Most gentle one, a love term used by Dante to Beatrice
“Common mortals stand and gaze with bated breath while that most gentle one (questa gentilissima) goes on her way”— Mrs. Oliphant: Makers of Florence, p. 25.
Question
To move the previous question No one seems able to give any clear and satisfactory explanation of this phrase. Erskine May, in his Parliamentary Practice, p. 303 (9th edition), says: “It is an ingenious method of avoiding a vote upon any question that has been proposed, but the technical phrase does little to elucidate its operation. When there is no debate, or after a debate is closed, the Speaker ordinarily puts the question as a matter of course, ... but by a motion for the previous question, this act may be intercepted and forbidden. The custom [used to be] `that the question be now put,' but Arthur Wellesley Peel, while Speaker, changed the words `be now put' into `be not put.'” The former process was obviously absurd. To continue the quotation from Erskine May: “Those who wish to avoid the putting of the main question, vote against the previous (or latter question), and if it be resolved in the negative, the Speaker is prevented from putting the main question, as the House has refused to allow it to be put. It may, however, be brought forward again another day.”
Of course this is correct, but what it means is quite another matter; and why “the main question” is called the “previous question" is past understanding
Question. When members of the House of Commons or other debaters call out Question, they mean that the person speaking is wandering away from the subject under consideration.
Questionists
In the examinations for degrees in the University of Cambridge it was customary, at the beginning of the January term, to hold “Acts,” and the candidates for the Bachelor's degree were called “Questionists.” They were examined by a moderator, and afterwards the fathers of other colleges “questioned” them for three hours— i.e. one whole hour and parts of two others. (I began my Act about a quarter to eleven and finished about half—past one.) It was held altogether in Latin, and the words of dismissal uttered by the Regius Professor indicated what class you would be placed in, or whether the respondent was plucked, in which case the words were simply “Descendas domine.”
Questions and Commands
A Christmas game, in which the commander bids his subjects to answer a question which is asked. If the subject refuses, or fails to satisfy the commander, he must pay a forfeit or have his face smutted.
“While other young ladies in the house are dancing, or playing at questions and commands, she [the devotee] reads aloud in her closet.”— The Spectator, No. 354 (Hotspur's Letter), April 16, 1712.
Queubus The equinoctial of Queubus. This line has Utopia on one side and Medamothi on the other. It was discovered on the Greek Kalends by Outis after his escape from the giant's cave, and is ninety—one degrees from the poles.
“Thou wast in very gracious fooling last night, when thou spokest of Pigrogromitus, the Vapians passing the equinoctial of Queubus. `Twas very good, i' faith.”— Shakespeare: Twelfth Night, ii. 3.
Queue
Gare la queue des Allemands. Before you quarrel, count the consequences. (See Querelle .)
Queux
The seneschal of King Arthur.
Quey Calves are dear Veal
Quey calves are female calves, which should be kept and reared for cows. Calves for the butcher are generally bull calves. The proverb is somewhat analogous to killing the goose which lays the golden egg. (Danish quie, a heifer.)
Qui
To give a man the qui. When a man in the printing business has had notice to quit, his fellow—workmen say they “have given him the qui.” Here qui is the contraction of quietus (discharge). (See Quietus .)
Qui s'Excuse, s'Accuse
He who apologises condemns himself.
Qui—Tam
A lawyer; so called from the first two words in an action on a penal statute. Qui tam pro dominâ Regi'nâ, quam pro se—ipso, sequitur (Who sues on the Queen's account as much as or his own).
Qui Vive?
(French). Who goes there? The challenge of a sentinel.
To be on the qui vive. On the alert; to be quick and sharp; to be on the tip—toe of expectation, like a sentinel. (See above.)
Quia Emptores
A statute passed in the reign of Edward I., and directed against the formation of new manors, whereby feudal lords were deprived of their dues. It is so called from its first two words.
Quibble
An evasion; a juggling with words, is the Welsh chwibiol (a trill), and not the Latin quid libet (what you please), as is generally given.
Quick
Living; hence animated, lively; hence fast, active, brisk (Anglo—Saxon, cwic, living, alive). Our expression, “Look alive,” means Be brisk.
Quick at meat, quick at work. In French, “Bonne bête s'échauffe en mangeant,” or “Hardi gagneur, hardi mangeur.” The opposite would certainly be true: A dawdle in one thing is a dawdle in all.
The quick and dead. The living and the dead.
Quick Sticks
(In). Without more ado; quickly. To cut one's stick (q.v.) is to start off, and to cut one's stick quickly is to start off immediately.
Quickly
(Dame). Hostess of a tavern in Eastcheap. (Shakespeare: Henry IV., parts 1 and 2.)
Mistress Quickly. Servant of all—work to Dr. Caius. She says: “I wash, wring, brew, bake, scour, dress meat and drink, make the beds, and do all myself.” She is the go—between of three suitors to Anne Page, and to prove her disinterestedness she says: “I would my master had Mistress Anne, or I would Master Slender had her, or in sooth I would Master Fenton had her. I will do what I can for them all three, for so I have promised; and I'll be as good as my word; but speciously for Master Fenton.” (Shakespeare: Merry Wives of Windsor.)
Quicksand
is sand which shifts its place as if it were alive. (See Quick .)
Quickset is living hawthorn set in a hedge, instead of dead wood, hurdles, and palings. (See Quick .)
Quicksilver
is argentum vivum (living silver) silver that moves about like a living thing. (Anglo—Saxon, cwicseolfor.)
“Swift as quicksilver
It courses through the natural gates
And alleys of the body.”
Shakespeare: Hamlet, i. 5.
Quid
a sovereign; Half a Quid, half a sovereign; Quids, cash or money generally. A suggested derivation may be mentioned. Quo = anything, and Quid pro quo means an equivalent generally. If now a person is offered anything on sale he might say, I have not a quid for your quo, an equivalent in cash.
“Then, looking at the gold piece, she added, `I guess you don't often get one of these quids.' ”— Liberty Review, June 9, 1894, p. 437.
Quid Libet
Quid—libets and quod—libets. Nice and knotty points, very subtile, but of no value. Quips and quirks. (Latin.)
Quid of Tobacco
A corruption of cud (a morsel). We still say “chew the cud.”
Quid pro Quo
Tit for tat; a return given as good as that received; a Roland for an Oliver; an equivalent.
Quid Rides
It is said that Lundy Foot, a Dublin tobacconist, set up his carriage, and asked Emmett to furnish him with a motto. The words of the motto chosen were Quid rides. The witticism is, however, attributed to H. Callender also, who, we are assured, supplied it to one Brandon, a London tobacconist.
“Rides,” in English, one syllable. In Latin (why do you laugh?) it is a word of two syllables.
Quiddity
The essence of a thing, or that which differentiates it from other things. Schoolmen say Quid est (what is it?) and the reply is, the Quid is so and so, the What or the nature of the thing is as follows. The latter quid being formed into a barbarous Latin noun becomes Quidditas. Hence Quid est (what is it)? Answer: Talis est quidditas (its essence is as follows).
“He knew ...
Where entity and quiddity (The ghosts of defunct bodies) fly.”
Butler: Hudibras, $$$ 1
Quiddity. A crotchet; a trifling distinction. (See above.
Quidnunc
A political Paul Pry, a pragmatical village politician; a political botcher or jobber. Quidnunc is the chief character in Murphy's farce of The Upholsterer, or What News? The words are Latin, and mean “What now?” “What has turned up?” The original of this political busybody was the father of Dr. Arne and his sister, Mrs. Cibber, who lived in King Street, Covent Garden. (See The Tatler, 155, etc.)
“Familiar to a few quidnuncs.”— The Times.
“The Florentine quidnuncs seem to lose sight of the fact that none of these gentlemen now hold office.”— The Times.
Quidnunkis
Monkey politicians. Gay has a fable called The Quidnunkis, to show that the death not even of the duke regent will cause any real gap in nature. A monkey who had ventured higher than his neighbours fell from his estate into the river below. For a few seconds the whole tribe stood panicstruck, but as soon as the stream carried off Master Pug, the monkeys went on with their gambols as if nothing had occurred.
“Ah, sir! you never saw the Ganges;
There dwell the nation of Quidnunkis (So Monomotapa calls monkeys).”
Gay: Tales.
Quietist
(A). One who believes that the most perfect state of man is when the spirit ceases to exercise any of its functions, and is wholly passive. This sect has cropped up at sundry times; but the last who revived it was Michael Molinos, a Spanish priest, in the seventeenth century.
Quietus
The writ of discharge formerly granted to those barons and knights who personally attended the king on a foreign expedition. At their discharge they were exempt from the claim of scutage or knight's fee. Subsequently the term was applied to the acquittance which a sheriff receives on settling his account at the Exchequer; and, later still, to any discharge of an account: thus Webster says—
“You had the trick in audit—time to be sick till I had signed your quietus.”— Duchess of Malfy (1623).
Quietus. A severe blow; a settler; death, or discharge from life.
“Who would fardels bear ...
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin?”
Shakespeare: Hamlet, iii. 1.
Quill—drivers
Writing clerks.
Quillet
An evasion. In French “pleadings” each separate allegation in the plaintiff's charge, and every distinct plea in the defendant's answer used to begin with qu'il est; whence our quillet, to signify a false charge, or an evasive answer.
“Oh, some authority how to proceed;
Some tricks, some quillets, how to cheat the devil.”
Shakespeare: Love's Labour's Lost, iv. 3.
Quilp
A hideous dwarf, both fierce and cunning, in The Old Curiosity Shop, by Dickens.
Quinapalus
The Mrs. Harris of “authorities in citations.” If anyone wishes to clench an argument by some quotation, let him cite this ponderous collection.
“What says Quinapalus: `Better a witty fool, than a foolish wit.”— Shakespeare: Twelfth Night, i. 5.
Quinbus Flestrin The man—mountain. So the Lilliputians called Gulliver (chap. ii.). Gay has an ode to this giant.
“Bards of old of him told,
When they said Atlas' head
Propped the skies.”
Gay: Lilliputian Ode.
Quince
(Peter) A carpenter, and manager of the play in Midsummer Night's Dream. He is noted for some strange compounds, such as laughable tragedy, lamentable comedy, tragical mirth, etc.
Quinones
(Suero de), in the reign of Juan II., with nine other cavaliers, held the bridge of Orbigo against all comers for thirty—six days, overthrowing in that time seventy—eight knights of Spain and France. Quinones had challenged the world, and such was the result.
Quinquagesima Sunday
(Latin, fiftieth). Shrove Sunday, or the first day of the week which contains
Ash—Wednesday. It is so called because in round numbers it is the fiftieth day before Easter.
Quinsy
This is a curious abbreviation. The Latin word is cynanchia, and the Greek word kunanché, from kuon anche, dog strangulation, because persons suffering from quinsy throw open the mouth like dogs, especially mad dogs. From kunanche comes kuanchy, kuansy, quinsy.
Quintessence
The fifth essence. The ancient Greeks said there are four elements or forms in which matter can
exist— fire, or the imponderable form; air, or the gaseous form; water, or the liquid form; and earth, or the solid form. The Pythagoreans added a fifth, which they called ether, more subtile and pure than fire, and possessed of an orbicular motion. This element, which flew upwards at creation, and out of which the stars were made, was called the fifth essence; quintessence therefore means the most subtile extract of a body that can be procured. It is quite an error to suppose that the word means an essence five times distilled, and that the term came from the alchemists. Horace speaks of “kisses which Venus has imbued with the quintessence of her own nectar.”
“Swift to their several quarters hasted then
The cumbrous elements— earth, flood, air, fire; But this ethereal quintessence of heaven
Flew upward ... and turned to stars
Numberless as thou seest.”
Milton: Paradise Lost, iii. 716.
Quintilians
Disciples of Quintilia, held to be a prophetess. These heretical Christians made the Eucharist of bread and cheese, and allowed women to become priests and bishops.
Quip Modest
(The). Sir, it was done to please myself. Touchstone says: “If I sent a person word that his bread was not well cut, and he replied he cut it to please himself,” he would answer with the quip modest, which is six removes from the lie direct; or, rather, the lie direct in the sixth degree.
Quis custodiet Custodes?
[The shepherds keep watch over the sheep], but who is there to keep watch over the shepherds?
Quisquiliae
Light, dry fragments of things; the small twigs and leaves which fall from trees; hence rubbish, refuse.
Quit Discharged from an obligation, “acquitted.”
“To John I owed great obligation;
But John unhappily thought fit
To publish it to all the nation—
Now I and John are fairly quit.”
Prior.
Cry quits. When two boys quarrel, and one has had enough, he says, “Cry quits,” meaning, “Let us leave off, and call it a drawn game.” So in an unequal distribution, he who has the largest share restores a portion and “cries quits,” meaning that he has made the distribution equal. Here quit means “acquittal” or discharge.
Double or quits. In gambling, especially in a small way, one of the players says to the other, “Double or quits?”— that is, the next stake shall be double the present one, or the winnings shall be returned to the loser, in which case both players would leave off as they began.
Quit Rent
A rent formerly paid by a tenant whereby he was released from feudal service.
Quixada
(Gutierre). Lord of Villagarcia. He discharged a javelin at Sire de Haburdin with such force as to pierce the left shoulder, overthrow the knight, and pin him to the ground. Don Quixote calls himself a descendant of this brave knight.
Quixote
(Don) is intended for the Duke of Lerma. (Rawdon Brown.)
Don Quixote. The romance so called is a merciless satire by Cervantes on the chivalric romances of the Middle Ages, and had the excellent effect of putting an end to knight—errantry.
Don Quixote's horse. Rosinante (Spanish, rocin—ante, a jade previously). (See Horse.) The wooden—pin wing—horse on which he and Sancho Panza mounted to achieve the liberation of Dolorida and her companions was called Algiero Clavileno (wooden—pin wing—bearer).
Quixote of the North
Charles XII. of Sweden, sometimes called the Madman. (1682, 1697—1718.)
Quixotic
Having foolish and unpractical ideas of honour, or schemes for the general good, like Don Quixote, a half—crazy reformer or knight of the supposed distressed.
Quiz
One who banters or chaffs another. Daly, manager of the Dublin theatre, laid a wager that he would introduce into the language within twenty—four hours a new word of no meaning. Accordingly, on every wall, or all places accessible, were chalked up the four mystic letters, and all Dublin was inquiring what they meant. The wager was won, and the word remains current in our language.
Quo Warranto
A writ against a defendant (whether an individual or a corporation) who lays claim to something he has no right to; so named because the offender is called upon to show quo warranto [rem] usurpavit (by what right or authority he lays claim to the matter of dispute).
Quod
To be in quod— in prison. A corruption of quad, which is a contraction of quadrangle. The quadrangle is the prison enclosure in which the prisoners are allowed to walk, and where whippings used to be inflicted.
“Flogged and whipped in quod.”
Hughes: Tom Brown's Schooldays.
Quodling
(The Rev. Mr.). Chaplain to the Duke of Buckingham. (Sir Walter Scott: Peveril of the Peak.)
“Why,' said the duke, `I had caused my little Quodling to go through his oration thus: That whatever evil reports had passed current during the lifetime of the worthy matron whom they had restored to dust that day, Malice herself could not deny that she was born well, married well, lived well, and died well; since she was born in Shadwell, married to Cresswell, lived in Camberwell and died in Bridewell.”— Peveril of the Peak, chap. xliv.
Quondam
(Latin). Former. We say, He is a quondam schoolfellow— my former schoolfellow; my quondam friend, the quondam candidate, etc.; also the quondam chancellor, etc.
“My quondam barber, but `his lordship' now.”
Dryden.
Quorum
Such a number of persons as are necessary to make up a committee or board; or certain justices without the presence of whom the rest cannot act. Thus, suppose the commission to be named A, B, C, D, E, etc., it would run— “Of these I wish [A, B, C, D, or E] to be one” (quorum unum esse volumus). These honoured names are called “Justices of the Quorum.” Slender calls Justice Shallow justice of the peace and quorum. (Shakespeare Merry Wives of Windsor, i. 1.)
Quos Ego
A threat of punishment for disobedience. The words are from Virgil's AEneid (i. 135), and were uttered by Neptune to the disobedient and rebellious winds.
“Neptune had but to appear and utter a quos ego for these wind—bags to collapse, and become the most subservient of salaried public servants.”— Truth, January, 1886.
Quot
Quot linguas calles, tot homines vales. As many languages as you know, so many separate individuals you are worth. Attributed to Charles V.
Quota
(Latin). The allotted portion or share; the rate assigned to each. Thus we say, “Every man is to pay his quota towards the feast.”
Quotem
(Caleb). A parish clerk and Jack—of—all—trades, in The Wags of Windsor, by Colman.