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Noah Webster’s 1828 Dictionary - Contents
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    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.NWAD QUESTOR.2

    QUESTORSHIP, n.

    1. The office of a questor or Roman treasurer.NWAD QUESTORSHIP.2

    2. The term of a questor’s office.NWAD QUESTORSHIP.3

    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.NWAD QUIB.2

    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.NWAD QUIBBLE.2

    Quirks and quibbles have no place in the search after truth.NWAD QUIBBLE.3

    2. A pun; a low conceit.NWAD QUIBBLE.4

    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.NWAD QUIBBLE.6

    2. To pun.NWAD QUIBBLE.7

    QUIBBLER, n.

    1. One who evades plain truth by trifling artifices, play upon words, or cavils.NWAD QUIBBLER.2

    2. A punster.NWAD QUIBBLER.3

    QUICK, v.i.

    To stir; to move. [Not in use.]NWAD QUICK.2

    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.NWAD QUICK.4

    The Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead. 2 Timothy 4:1.NWAD QUICK.5

    [In this sense, the word is obsolete, except in some compounds or in particular phrases.]NWAD QUICK.6

    2. Swift; hasty; done with celerity; as quick dispatch.NWAD QUICK.7

    3. Speedy; done or occurring in a short time; as a quick return of profits.NWAD QUICK.8

    Oft he to her his charge of quick return repeated.NWAD QUICK.9

    4. Active; brisk; nimble; prompt ready. He is remarkably quick in his motions. He is a man of quick parts.NWAD QUICK.10

    5. Moving with rapidity or celerity; as quick time in music.NWAD QUICK.11

    Quick with child, pregnant with a living child.NWAD QUICK.12

    QUICK, adv.

    1. Nimbly; with celerity; rapidly; with haste; speedily; without delay; as, run quick; be quick.NWAD QUICK.14

    If we consider how very quick the actions of the mind are performed.NWAD QUICK.15

    2. Soon; in a short time; without delay. Go, and return quick.NWAD QUICK.16

    QUICK, n.

    1. A living animal. Obs.NWAD QUICK.18

    2. The living flesh; sensible parts; as penetrating to the quick; stung to the quick; cut to the quick.NWAD QUICK.19

    3. Living shrubs or trees; as a ditch or bank set with quick.NWAD QUICK.20

    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.NWAD QUICK-BEAM.2

    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.NWAD QUICKEN.2

    Hence flocks and herds, and men and beasts and fowls, with breath are quicken’d and attract their souls.NWAD QUICKEN.3

    2. To make alive in a spiritual sense; to communicate a principle of grace to.NWAD QUICKEN.4

    You hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins. Ephesians 2:1.NWAD QUICKEN.5

    3. To hasten; to accelerate; as, to quicken motion, speed or flight.NWAD QUICKEN.6

    4. To sharpen; to give keener perception to; to stimulate; to incite; as, to quicken the appetite or taste; to quicken desires.NWAD QUICKEN.7

    5. To revive; to cheer; to reinvigorate; to refresh by new supplies of comfort or grace. Psalm 119:25.NWAD QUICKEN.8

    QUICKEN, v.i. quik’n.

    1. To become alive.NWAD QUICKEN.10

    The heart is the first part that quickens, and the last that dies.NWAD QUICKEN.11

    2. To move with rapidity or activity.NWAD QUICKEN.12

    And keener lightning quickens in her eye.NWAD QUICKEN.13

    QUICKENED, pp.

    1. Made alive; revived; vivified; reinvigorated.NWAD QUICKENED.2

    2. Accelerated; hastened.NWAD QUICKENED.3

    3. Stimulated; incited.NWAD QUICKENED.4

    QUICKENER, n.

    1. One who revives, vivifies, or communicates life.NWAD QUICKENER.2

    2. That which reinvigorates.NWAD QUICKENER.3

    3. That which accelerates motion or increases activity.NWAD QUICKENER.4

    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.NWAD QUICKLY.2

    2. Soon; without delay.NWAD QUICKLY.3

    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.NWAD QUICKNESS.2

    2. Activity; briskness; promptness, as the quickness of the imagination or wit.NWAD QUICKNESS.3

    3. Acuteness of perception; keep sensibility; as quickness of sensation.NWAD QUICKNESS.4

    4. Sharpness; pungency.NWAD QUICKNESS.5

    QUICKSAND, n.

    1. Sand easily moved or readily yielding to pressure, loose sand abounding with water.NWAD QUICKSAND.2

    2. Unsolid ground.NWAD QUICKSAND.3

    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.NWAD QUICKSILVER.2

    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.NWAD QUIDDANY.2

    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.NWAD QUIDDITY.2

    2. A trifling nicety; a cavil; a captious question.NWAD QUIDDITY.3

    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.NWAD QUIDNUNC.2

    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.NWAD QUIESCENCE.2

    2. Rest of the mind; a state of the mind free from agitation or emotion.NWAD QUIESCENCE.3

    3. Silence; the having no sound; as of a letter.NWAD QUIESCENCE.4

    QUIESCENT, a. [L. quiescens.]

    1. Resting being in a state of repose; still: not moving; as a quiescent body or fluid.NWAD QUIESCENT.2

    2. Not ruffled with passion; unagitated; as the mind.NWAD QUIESCENT.3

    3. Silent; not sounded; having no sound; as a quiescent letter. Sow mow, with w quiescent; say, day, with y quiescent.NWAD QUIESCENT.4

    QUIESCENT, n. A silent letter.

    QUIET, a. [L. quietus.]

    1. Still; being in a state of rest; now moving. Judges 16:2.NWAD QUIET.2

    2. Still; free from alarm or disturbance; unmolested; as a quiet life.NWAD QUIET.3

    In his days the land was quiet ten years. 2 Chronicles 14:1.NWAD QUIET.4

    3. Peaceable; not turbulent; not giving offense; not exciting controversy, disorder or trouble; mild; meek; contented.NWAD QUIET.5

    The ornament of a meek and quiet spirit. 1 Peter 3:4; 1 Thessalonians 4:11.NWAD QUIET.6

    4. Calm; not agitated by wind; as a quiet sea or atmosphere.NWAD QUIET.7

    5. Smooth; unruffled.NWAD QUIET.8

    6. Undisturbed; unmolested; as the quiet possession or enjoyment of an estate.NWAD QUIET.9

    7. Not crying; not restless; as a quiet child.NWAD QUIET.10

    QUIET, n. [L. quies.]

    1. Rest; repose; stillness; the state of a thing not in motion.NWAD QUIET.12

    2. Tranquility; freedom from disturbance or alarm; civil or political repose. Our country enjoys quiet.NWAD QUIET.13

    3. Peace; security. Judges 18:7, 27.NWAD QUIET.14

    QUIET, v.t.

    1. To stop motion; to still; to reduce to a state of rest; as, to quiet corporeal motion.NWAD QUIET.16

    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.NWAD QUIET.17

    3. To allay; to suppress; as, to quiet pain or grief.NWAD QUIET.18

    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.NWAD QUIETLY.2

    2. Without tumult, alarm, dispute or disturbance; peaceably; as, to live quietly.NWAD QUIETLY.3

    3. Calmly; without agitation or violent emotion; patiently. submit quietly to unavoidable evils.NWAD QUIETLY.4

    QUIETNESS, n.

    1. A state of rest; stillness.NWAD QUIETNESS.2

    2. Calm; tranquility; as the quietness of the ocean or atmosphere.NWAD QUIETNESS.3

    3. Freedom from agitation or emotion; calmness; coolness; as the quietness of the mind.NWAD QUIETNESS.4

    4. Freedom from disturbance, disorder or commotion; peace; tranquility; as the quietness of a city or state.NWAD QUIETNESS.5

    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,NWAD QUILL.2

    2. The instrument of writing; as the proper subject of his quill.NWAD QUILL.3

    3. The spine or prickle of a porcupine.NWAD QUILL.4

    4. A piece of small reed or other hollow plant, or which weavers wind the thread which forms the woof of cloth.NWAD QUILL.5

    5. The instrument with which musicians strike the strings of certain instruments.NWAD QUILL.6

    To carry a good quill, to write well.NWAD QUILL.7

    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.]NWAD QUILL.9

    QUILLET, n. [L. quidlibet, what you please.]

    Subtilty; nicety; fraudulent distinction; petty cant. [Not much used.]NWAD QUILLET.2

    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.NWAD QUILT.2

    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.NWAD QUILT.4

    2. To sew in the manner of a quilt.NWAD QUILT.5

    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.NWAD QUILTING.3

    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.NWAD QUILTING.4

    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.NWAD QUINCE.2

    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.NWAD QUINCUNX.2

    QUINDECAGON, n. [L. quinque, five Gr. ten, and angle.]

    In geometry, a plain figure with fifteen sides and fifteen angles.NWAD QUINDECAGON.2

    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.NWAD QUINDECEMVIR.2

    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.NWAD QUINQUECAPSULAR.2

    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.NWAD QUINQUEFID.2

    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.NWAD QUINQUELOBATE.2

    QUINQUELOCULAR, a. [L. quinque, five, and loculus, a cell.]

    Five-celled; having five cells; as a pericarp.NWAD QUINQUELOCULAR.2

    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.NWAD QUINQUEPARTITE.2

    2. Consisting of two parts.NWAD QUINQUEPARTITE.3

    QUINQUEREME, n. [L. quinque, five, and remus, oar.]

    A galley having five seats or rows of oars.NWAD QUINQUEREME.2

    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.NWAD QUINSY.2

    2. An inflammation of the fauces, particularly of the tonsils.NWAD QUINSY.3

    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.NWAD QUINTAL.2

    QUINTESSENCE, n. [L. quinta essentia, fifth essence.]

    1. In alchimy, the fifth or last and highest essence of power in a natural body. Hence,NWAD QUINTESSENCE.2

    2. An extract from any thing, containing its virtues or most essential part in a small quantity.NWAD QUINTESSENCE.3

    Let there be light, said God; and forthwith light etherial, first of things, quintessence pure, sprung from the deep.NWAD QUINTESSENCE.4

    3. In chimistry, a preparation consisting of the essential oil of a vegetable substance, mixed and incorporated with spirit of wine.NWAD QUINTESSENCE.5

    4. The pure essential part of a thing.NWAD QUINTESSENCE.6

    [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.]NWAD QUINTESSENCE.7

    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.NWAD QUINTIN.2

    QUINTUPLE, a. [L. quintuplus, fivefold; quintus and plico.]

    Fivefold; containing five times the amount.NWAD QUINTUPLE.2

    QUIP, n.

    A smart sarcastic turn; a taunt; a severe retort.NWAD QUIP.2

    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.]NWAD QUIRE.2

    2. The part of a church where the service is sung.NWAD QUIRE.3

    QUIRE, n.

    A collection of paper consisting of twenty four sheets, each having a single fold.NWAD QUIRE.5

    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.NWAD QUIRK.2

    2. A fit or turn; a short paroxysm; as a quirk of joy or grief.NWAD QUIRK.3

    3. A smart taunt or retort.NWAD QUIRK.4

    I may chance to have some odd quirks and remnants of wit broken on me.NWAD QUIRK.5

    4. A slight conceit or quibble.NWAD QUIRK.6

    5. A flight of fancy. [Not in use.]NWAD QUIRK.7

    6. An irregular air; as light quirks of music.NWAD QUIRK.8

    7. In building, a piece of ground taken out of any regular ground-plot or floor, as to mark a court or yard, etc.NWAD QUIRK.9

    QUIRKISH, a.

    1. Consisting of quirks, turns, quibbles or artful evasions.NWAD QUIRKISH.2

    2. Resembling a quirk.NWAD QUIRKISH.3

    QUIRPELE, n. The Indian ferret, an animal of the weasel kind.

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