Quirky Quirk"y (-ȳ) adjective Full of quirks; tricky; as, a quirky lawyer.

Quirl Quirl (kwẽrl) noun & v. See Querl .

Quirpele Quir"pele (kwẽr"pēl) noun [ Tamil kīrippillai .] (Zoology) The Indian ferret.

Quirt Quirt (kwẽrt) noun A rawhide whip plaited with two thongs of buffalo hide. T. Roosevelt.

Quish Quish (kwĭsh) noun See Cuish .

Quit Quit (kwĭt) noun (Zoology) Any one of numerous species of small passerine birds native of tropical America. See Banana quit , under Banana , and Guitguit .

Quit Quit (kwĭt) adjective [ Middle English quite , Old French quite , French quitte . See Quit , v. , Quiet .] Released from obligation, charge, penalty, etc.; free; clear; absolved; acquitted. Chaucer.

The owner of the ox shall be quit .

Ex. xxi. 28.

» This word is sometimes used in the form quits , colloquially; as, to be quits with one, that is, to have made mutual satisfaction of demands with him; to be even with him; hence, as an exclamation: Quits ! we are even, or on equal terms. "To cry quits with the commons in their complaints." Fuller.

Quit Quit transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Quit or Quitted ; present participle & verbal noun Quitting .] [ Middle English quiten , Old French quiter , quitier , cuitier , French quitter , to acquit, quit, Late Latin quietare , from Latin quietare to calm, to quiet, from quietus quiet. See Quiet , adjective , and confer Quit , adjective , Quite , Acquit , Requite .] 1. To set at rest; to free, as from anything harmful or oppressive; to relieve; to clear; to liberate. [ R.]

To quit you of this fear, you have already looked Death in the face; what have you found so terrible in it?

Wake.

2. To release from obligation, accusation, penalty, or the like; to absolve; to acquit.

There may no gold them quyte .

Chaucer.

God will relent, and quit thee all his debt.

Milton.

3. To discharge, as an obligation or duty; to meet and satisfy, as a claim or debt; to make payment for or of; to requite; to repay.

The blissful martyr quyte you your meed.

Chaucer.

Enkindle all the sparks of nature
To quit this horrid act.

Shak.

Before that judge that quits each soul his hire.

Fairfax.

4. To meet the claims upon, or expectations entertained of; to conduct; to acquit; -- used reflexively.

Be strong, and quit yourselves like men.

1 Sam. iv. 9.

Samson hath quit himself
Like Samson.

Milton.

5. To carry through; to go through to the end. [ Obsolete]

Never worthy prince a day did quit
With greater hazard and with more renown.

Daniel.

6. To have done with; to cease from; to stop; hence, to depart from; to leave; to forsake; as, to quit work; to quit the place; to quit jesting.

Such a superficial way of examining is to quit truth for appearance.

Locke.

To quit cost , to pay; to reimburse. -- To quit scores , to make even; to clear mutually from demands.

Does not the earth quit scores with all the elements in the noble fruits that issue from it?

South.

Syn. -- To leave; relinquish; resign; abandon; forsake; surrender; discharge; requite. -- Quit , Leave . Leave is a general term, signifying merely an act of departure; quit implies a going without intention of return, a final and absolute abandonment.

Quit Quit intransitive verb To go away; to depart; to stop doing a thing; to cease.

Quitch Quitch (kwĭch) noun 1. (Botany) Same as Quitch grass .

2. Figuratively: A vice; a taint; an evil.

To pick the vicious quitch
Of blood and custom wholly out of him.

Tennyson.

Quitch grass Quitch" grass` (kwĭch" grȧs`). [ Properly quick grass , being probably so called from its vigorous growth, or from its tenacity of life. See Quick , and confer Couch grass .] (Botany) A perennial grass ( Agropyrum repens ) having long running rootstalks, by which it spreads rapidly and pertinaciously, and so becomes a troublesome weed. Also called couch grass , quack grass , quick grass , twitch grass . See Illustration in Appendix.

Quitclaim Quit"claim` (kwĭt"klām`) noun [ Quit , adjective + claim .] (Law) A release or relinquishment of a claim; a deed of release; an instrument by which some right, title, interest, or claim, which one person has, or is supposed to have, in or to an estate held by himself or another, is released or relinquished, the grantor generally covenanting only against persons who claim under himself.

Quitclaim Quit"claim` transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Quitclaimed (-klāmd`); present participle & verbal noun Quitclaiming .] (Law) To release or relinquish a claim to; to release a claim to by deed, without covenants of warranty against adverse and paramount titles.

Quite Quite (kwīt) transitive verb & i. See Quit . [ Obsolete] Chaucer.

Quite Quite (kwīt) adverb [ French quitte discharged, free, clear; confer Old French quitement freely, frankly, entirely. See Quit , adjective ]

1. Completely; wholly; entirely; totally; perfectly; as, the work is not quite done; the object is quite accomplished; to be quite mistaken.

Man shall not quite be lost, but saved who will.

Milton.

The same actions may be aimed at different ends, and arise from quite contrary principles.

Spectator.

2. To a great extent or degree; very; very much; considerably. " Quite amusing." Macaulay.

He really looks quite concerned.

Landor.

The island stretches along the land and is quite close to it.

Jowett (Thucyd. ).

Quitly Quit"ly (kwĭt"lȳ) adverb Quite. [ Obsolete] Chaucer.

Quitrent Quit"rent` (kwĭt"rĕnt`) noun [ Quit , adjective + rent .] (Law) A rent reserved in grants of land, by the payment of which the tenant is quit from other service. Blackstone.

» In some of the United States a fee-farm rent is so termed. Burrill.

Quits Quits (kwĭts) interj. See the Note under Quit , adjective

Quittable Quit"ta·ble (kwĭt"tȧ*b'l) adjective Capable of being quitted.

Quittal Quit"tal (-t a l) noun Return; requital; quittance. [ Obsolete]

Quittance Quit"tance (-t a ns) noun [ Middle English quitaunce , Old French quitance , French quittance . See Quit , transitive verb ] 1. Discharge from a debt or an obligation; acquittance.

Omittance is no quittance .

Shak.

2. Recompense; return; repayment. [ Obsolete] Shak.

Quittance Quit"tance transitive verb To repay; to requite. [ Obsolete] Shak.

Quitter Quit"ter (-tẽr) noun 1. One who quits.

2. A deliverer. [ Obsolete] Ainsworth.

Quittor Quit"tor (-tẽr) noun [ Perhaps for quitture .] (Far.) A chronic abscess, or fistula of the coronet, in a horse's foot, resulting from inflammation of the tissues investing the coffin bone.

Quittuple-nerved, Quintuple-ribbed Quit"tu·ple-nerved`, Quin"tu·ple-ribbed` adjective (Botany) The same as Quinquenerved .

Quitture Quit"ture (-tur; 135) noun A discharge; an issue. [ Obsolete]

To cleanse the quitture from thy wound.

Chapman.

Quiver Quiv"er (kwĭv"ẽr) adjective [ Akin to Anglo-Saxon cwiferlice anxiously; confer OD. kuiven , kuiveren . Confer Quaver .] Nimble; active. [ Obsolete] " A little quiver fellow." Shak.

Quiver Quiv"er intransitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Quivered (-ẽrd); present participle & verbal noun Quivering .] [ Confer Quaver .] To shake or move with slight and tremulous motion; to tremble; to quake; to shudder; to shiver.

The green leaves quiver with the cooling wind.

Shak.

And left the limbs still quivering on the ground.

Addison.

Quiver Quiv"er noun The act or state of quivering; a tremor.

Quiver Quiv"er noun [ Old French cuivre , cuevre , coivre , Late Latin cucurum , from Old High German chohhāri quiver, receptacle, German köcher quiver; akin to Anglo-Saxon cocor , cocur , cocer , Dutch koker . Confer Cocker a high shoe.] A case or sheath for arrows to be carried on the person.

Beside him hung his bow
And quiver , with three-bolted thunder stored.

Milton.

Quivered Quiv"ered (-ẽrd) adjective 1. Furnished with, or carrying, a quiver. "Like a quivered nymph with arrows keen." Milton.

2. Sheathed, as in a quiver. "Whose quills stand quivered at his ear." Pope.

Quiveringly Quiv"er·ing·ly (-ẽr*ĭng*lȳ) adverb With quivering motion.

Quixotic Quix·ot"ic (kwĭks*ŏt"ĭk) adjective Like Don Quixote; romantic to extravagance; absurdly chivalric; apt to be deluded. "Feats of quixotic gallantry." Prescott.

Quixotically Quix·ot"ic·al·ly (-ĭ*k a l*lȳ) adverb In a quixotic way.

Quixotism Quix"ot·ism (kwĭks"ŏt*ĭz'm) noun That form of delusion which leads to extravagant and absurd undertakings or sacrifices in obedience to a morbidly romantic ideal of duty or honor, as illustrated by the exploits of Don Quixote in knight-errantry.

Quixotry Quix"ot·ry (-rȳ) noun Quixotism; visionary schemes.

Quiz Quiz (kwĭz) noun [ It is said that Daly, the manager of a Dublin playhouse, laid a wager that a new word of no meaning should be the common talk and puzzle of the city in twenty-four hours. In consequence of this the letters q u i z were chalked by him on all the walls of Dublin, with an effect that won the wager. Perhaps, however, originally a variant of whiz , and formerly the name of a popular game.] 1. A riddle or obscure question; an enigma; a ridiculous hoax.

2. One who quizzes others; as, he is a great quiz .

3. An odd or absurd fellow. Smart. Thackeray.

4. An exercise, or a course of exercises, conducted as a coaching or as an examination. [ Cant, U.S.]

Quiz Quiz (kwĭz) transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Quizzed (kwĭzd); present participle & verbal noun Quizzing (-zĭng).] 1. To puzzle; to banter; to chaff or mock with pretended seriousness of discourse; to make sport of, as by obscure questions.

He quizzed unmercifully all the men in the room.

Thackeray.

2. To peer at; to eye suspiciously or mockingly.

3. To instruct in or by a quiz. See Quiz , noun , 4. [ U.S.]

Quizzing glass , a small eyeglass.

Quiz Quiz intransitive verb To conduct a quiz. See Quiz , noun , 4. [ U.S.]

Quizzer Quiz"zer (-zẽr) noun One who quizzes; a quiz.

Quizzical Quiz"zic·al (-zĭ*k a l) adjective Relating to quizzing; given to quizzing; of the nature of a quiz; farcical; sportive.

-- Quiz"zic*al*ly , adverb

Quizzism Quiz"zism (-zĭz'm) noun The act or habit of quizzing.

Quo warranto Quo` war·ran"to (kwō` wŏr*răn"to). [ So called from the Law Latin words quo warranto (by what authority), in the original Latin form of the writ. See Which , and Warrant .] (Law) A writ brought before a proper tribunal, to inquire by what warrant a person or a corporation acts, or exercises certain powers. Blackstone.

» An information in the nature of a quo warranto is now common as a substitute for the writ. Wharton.

Quob Quob (kwŏb) intransitive verb [ Confer Quaver .] [ Written also quop and quab .] To throb; to quiver. [ Local & Vulgar]

Quod Quod (kwŏd) noun [ For quad , abbrev. of quadrangle .] A quadrangle or court, as of a prison; hence, a prison. [ Slang] "Flogged or whipped in quod ." T. Hughes.

Quod Quod v. Quoth; said. See Quoth . [ Obsolete]

"Let be," quod he, "it shall not be."

Chaucer.

Quod Quod transitive verb To put in quod, or prison; to lock up; to jug. [ Slang] Kipling.

Quoddies Quod"dies (kwŏd"dĭz) noun plural Herring taken and cured or smoked near Quoddy Head, Maine, or near the entrance of Passamaquoddy Bay.

Quodlibet Quod"li·bet (-lĭ*bĕt) noun [ Latin , what you please.]

1. A nice point; a subtilty; a debatable point.

These are your quodlibets , but no learning.

P. Fletcher.

2. (Mus.) A medley improvised by several performers.

Quodlibetarian Quod`lib·e·ta"ri·an (- lĭb*e*tā"rĭ* a n) noun One who discusses any subject at pleasure.

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