• QUAL
adj. twelve …1710 Sc.
n. a person of high social position; also, a stuck-up, wealthy person; generally used in plural …Bk1905 Eng. dial.
• QUALE
n. 1. death, destruction, mortality …c900 obs.
n. 2. the quality of a thing; a thing having certain qualities …1675
• QUALE-HOUSE
n. a house of torture …c1205 obs.
• QUALE-SITHE
n. death from pestilence …c1205 obs.
• QUALIFICATE
adj. qualified, conditional, under certain limitations …1723 Sc. obs.
• QUALIFIED
adj. 1. absolutely certain …1800 Amer. dial.
adj. 2. damned; bloody …L19 Brit. euphemism
adj. 3. in good circumstances; well-to-do …Bk1905 Eng. dial.
adj. 4. of a prostitute: experienced …1960s African-American sl.
• QUALIFY
vb. 1. to prove; to authenticate, to make good; to testify to …1746 Sc. & N. Eng. dial. obs.
vb. 2. to succeed in copulating …19C Brit. sl.
vb. 3. to modify the quality or strength of, to make stronger, dilute or otherwise fit for taste; as, to ‘qualify’ liquors …1816 Amer. dial.
vb. 4. to put one to an oath, to cause one to testify; to swear, to testify …1827 Amer. dial.
vb. 5. to put sugar and cream in coffee …1897 Amer. dial.
vb. 6. of a confidence trickster: to assess the potential of a possible victim …1970s US criminals’ sl.
• QUALITATED
adj. qualitied, furnished with a quality or qualities …1662 obs. rare
• QUALITIES
n. intellectual ability …Bk1905 Eng. dial.
• QUALITY
n. the gentry; the upper classes; a person of quality …1848 Sc. & Eng. & Amer. dial.
• THE QUALITY
n. 1. the upper classes; society …18C
n. 2. anyone who is not a member of the travelling community …1993 Ireland sl.
• QUALITY FOLKS
n. 1. people of high social status …Bk1913-17 Amer. dial.
n. 2. a non-addict …1950s US drug culture sl.
• QUALITY JOE
n. a non-addict …1950s US drug culture sl.
• QUALITY TOSS
n. the attributes and style of the upper classes …1910s Irish sl.
• QUALK
n. a heavy fall …Bk1905 Eng. dial.
• QUALKER
n. a heavy blow; a heavy fall …1866 Eng. dial.
• QUALL
adj. twelve …1710 Sc.
n. a lull, in wind or storm …1908 Sc.
vb. 1. of persons: to calm down, to become quiet and peaceful …1824 Sc.
vb. 2. of wind, etc.: to lull, to abate …1824 Sc.
• QUALLER
vb. to swarm, to be alive or infested with …a1838 Sc.
• QUALLMIRE
n. a quagmire …1553 obs. rare
• QUALLY
adj. of wine: turbid, cloudy …a1700 obs. rare
n. cloudy, sour wine …L17 sl.
• QUALM
n. a sudden onset of wind …1865 Sc.
vb. to make sick or uneasy …1884 Amer. dial.
• QUALMISH
adj. affected by nausea, queasy, sick at the stomach, inclined to vomit …1787 Amer. dial.
• QUALMISHNESS
n. a feeling of nausea …1843 Amer. dial.
• QUALMS
n. feelings of nausea …1943 Amer. dial.
• QUALMY
adj. 1. affected by nausea, queasy, sick at the stomach, inclined to vomit …1852 Amer. dial.
adj. 2. of the weather: close, sultry, producing sickly languor …Bk1905 Eng. dial.
• QUALTAGH
n. 1. 1835 – the practice or custom of going in a group from door to door at Christmas or New Year, typically making a request for food or other gifts in the form of a song
“A company of young lads or men generally went in old times on what they termed the Qualtagh, at Christmas or New Year’s Day, to the houses of their more wealthy neighbours; some one of the company repeating in an audible voice the following rhyme: ‘Ollick ghennal erriu,’ &c. . .When this was repeated they were then invited in to partake of the best that the house could afford. The purport of the foregoing rhyme appears to be; ‘ A merry Christmas to you, and a happy New Year. Long life and health to all the family. Your lifetime and cheerfulness live together. Peace and love between women and men. Goods and flummery, stock and store. Plenty of potatoes and herrings enough. Bread and cheese, butter and the spring-tide. Stealthy death in neither stack-yard or barn. Safe sleep when you lie down. And may the flea not make a meal of you.”
– also, one who takes part in the ceremony → Eng. dial.
n. 2. 1845 – the first person one meets after leaving home on some special occasion, as New Year’s Day; the first person entering a house on New Year’s Day; the first-foot → Eng. dial.
• QUAMIN
n. 1940s W. Indies sl. – an unsophisticated, ignorant person; a countrified person
• QUAMIRE
n. 1555 obs. – a quagmire, a bog
• QUAMISH
adj. 1787 Amer. dial. – affected by nausea, queasy, sick at the stomach, inclined to vomit
• QUAMP
adj. still, quiet; also, sulky …1777 Eng. dial.
vb. to subdue, to cow, to quiet; to damp one’s spirits …1870 Eng. dial.
• QUAMP AS A MOUSE
adj. very quiet (quamp = still, quiet) …1777 Eng. dial.
• QUAMPED
adj. subdued, disappointed …Bk1905 Eng. dial.
• QUAMS
n. problems, worries …2000s African-American sl.
• QUANDARY
n. 1. a dilemma; a state of extreme uncertainty …M16 sl.
n. 2. a fit of ill temper …Bk1905 Eng. dial.
• QUANDONG
n. 1. a country bumpkin …1910s Aust. sl.
n. 2. a disreputable figure, living on their wits …1930s Aust. sl.
n. 3. a young woman who accepts any amount of gifts but still refuses to cede her sexual favours …1960s Aust. sl.
• QUANDORUM
n. 1. a quandary; extreme perplexity …1894 Eng. dial.
n. 2. a polite speech or gesture …BK1905 Eng. dial.
• QUANGER
n. a quince …1960s Aust. teen sl.
• QUANK
adj. still, quiet …1790 Eng. dial.
vb. to overcome, to subdue; to quiet …1825 Eng. dial.
• QUANKED
adj. overpowered by fatigue …1825 Eng. dial.
• QUANKER
n. 1. something that brings things to a conclusion, a settler …Bk1905 Eng. dial.
n. 2. a duck-calling device …1945 Can. sl.
• QUANT
adj. short-tempered, ill-tempered …Bk1905 Eng. dial.
n. a long pole with which to propel barges or punts; a walking-stick …1790 Eng. dial.
vb. 1. to push a barge or boat along with a pole …1891 Eng. dial.
vb. 2. to thrash, to chastise …Bk1905 Eng. dial.
• QUANTER
n. a man who propels a barge or punt by means of a pole …1895 Eng. dial.
• QUANTUM
n. a drink …L18 sl.
• QUANTY
adj. twenty …1710 Sc.
• QUAP
n. a throb, a palpitation …Bk1905 Eng. dial.
vb. to beat, to throb, to palpitate, to quiver …c1374 obs. exc. Eng. dial.
• QUAQUAVERSAL
adj. turned or pointing in every direction …1728
• QUAR
n. a stone quarry …a1485 obs. exc. Eng. dial.
vb. 1. to curdle, to coagulate …1578 obs. exc. Eng. dial.
vb. 2. to work in a quarry; to raise stones from a quarry …1825 Eng. dial.
vb. 3. to become choked …1883 Eng. dial.
• QUARANTAIN
n. 1. a set of forty (nights) …1653 obs. rare
n. 2. a period (orig. of forty days) during which persons who night serve to spread a contagious disease are kept isolated from the rest of the community; quarantine …1669 obs.
• QUARANTINABLE
adj. subject or liable to quarantine …1894 rare
• QUARANTINE
n. involuntary delay …Bk1942 Amer. sl.
• QUARDLE
n. a quarrel …1867 Eng. dial.
vb. to quarrel …1866 Eng. dial.
• QUARDLING
adj. quarrelsome …Bk1905 Eng. dial.
• QUARE
adj. 1. good, excellent; also, a general intensifier …M19 Irish sl.
adj. 2. odd, eccentric, queer …M19 Irish sl.
adj. 3. mediocre …1983 UK sl.
vb. 1. to square …a1300 obs. rare
vb. 2. to inquire …1816 Eng. dial.
• QUARE FELLA
n. an eccentric; an unusual person …M19 Irish sl.
• QUARE HARP
n. an odd person …20C Irish sl.
• QUARE HAWK
n. someone who is unconventional in some way; an odd person …1989 Ireland sl.
• QUARE MAN M’DA!
int. exclamation of disbelief …20C Ulster sl.
• QUARENTAL
n. a set of forty requiem masses …1566 obs. rare
• QUARE ONE
n. the wife …1997 Ireland sl.
• QUARE PLACE
n. 1. hell …1960s Irish sl.
n. 2. somewhere unpleasant …1960s Irish sl.
• THE QUARE STUFF
n. illicitly distilled whisky …1960 Irish sl.
• THE QUARE THING
n. an act of sexual intercourse …1970s Irish sl.
• QUARFOXE
n. a carfax; crossroads …1483 obs.
• QUARFULNESS
n. health, prosperity …1483 obs.
• QUAR ICE
n. water that has oozed through the ground through snow and frozen on the surface …1955 Can.
• QUARION
n. a ‘quarrier” a large square candle …1512 obs.
• QUARK
vb. 1. to caw; to screech as a bird; to call out loudly but inarticulately …1820 Eng. dial.
vb. 2. to croak …1860
• QUARKED OUT
adj. under the influence of drugs …1999 US sl.
• QUARL
n. the jellyfish, medusa …1884 rare
vb. to curdle …1607 obs. rare
• QUARLY
vb. to quarrel …1867 Eng. dial.
• QUARM
n. 1. the edges of the eyelid on which the eyelashes grow …1899 Sc.
n. 2. a male homosexual …1990s UK juvenile sl.
vb. of a man: to behave in an exaggerated, effeminate manner …1982 Bahamas
• QUAR-MAN
n. a man who works in a quarry …1825 Eng. dial.
• QUARMBURGER
n. a male homosexual …1990s UK juvenile sl.
• QUARMIN
n. an unsophisticated, ignorant person; a countrified person …1940s W. Indies sl.
• QUARNELL
adj. square, squared …1533 Sc. obs. rare
• QUARNELLED
adj. squared …1533 Sc. obs. rare
• QUARR
n. a quarry, a stone-pit …1777 Eng. dial.
• QUARRED
adj. 1. clotted, curdled; soured …1599 obs. exc. Eng. dial.
adj. 2. of beer: harsh or rough to the taste …1883 Eng. dial.
• QUARREFOUR
n. a place where four roads, streets, or ways meet …1477 obs.
• QUARREL
n. 1. a pane of glass, esp. a diamond-shaped pane …1447 obs. exc. Eng. dial.
n. 2. materials from a quarry …1759 Sc. obs.
n. 3. a stone-quarry …1865 Eng. dial.
vb. 1. to question, to call to account, to challenge; to find fault with, to rebuke; to object to …1709 Sc. & Eng. dial.
vb. 2. to raise stones from a quarry …Bk1905 Sc.
• QUARREL-BREEDER
n. one who causes quarrels and contention …1611 obs.
• QUARRELET
n. a small square …1648 obs. rare
• QUARRELLABLE
adj. capable of being called in question; disputable …a1600 obs.
• QUARRELLED
adj. of a window: having panes …1895 Eng. dial.
• QUARRELLOUS
adj. 1. given to complaining; querulous …c1400 obs.
adj. 2. quarrelsome, contentious; fault-finding …1556 obs.
• QUARRELOUR
n. one who reproves or rebukes; a faultfinder …1825 Sc.
• QUARREL-PANED
adj. of a window: having diamond-shaped panes …1868 Eng. dial.
• QUARREL-PICKER
n. 1. one who picks quarrels; a quarrelsome person …1547 obs.
n. 2. a glazier …a1700 obs. exc. Eng. dial.
• QUARRELSOME
adj. faultfinding, given to contradiction, litigious …Bk1905 Sc.
• QUARREL WITH ONE’S BREAD AND BUTTER
vb. to give up a means of livelihood for insufficient reasons …1780
• QUARREN
n. a body …M16 UK criminals’ sl.
• QUARRIER
n. a large square candle …c1550 obs.
• QUARROM
n. a body …M16 UK criminals’ sl.
• QUARROME
n. a body …M16 UK criminals’ sl.
• QUARROMES
n. the body …1567 cant obs.
• QUARROMS
n. a body …M16 UK criminals’ sl.
• QUARRON
n. the body …1641 cant obs.
• QUARRONS
n. a body …M16 UK criminals’ sl.
• QUARRY
adj. 1. square; squarely built, stout …1297 obs.
adj. 2. clotted, coagulated …1587 obs. rare
n. 1. a square candle …1526 obs. rare
n. 2. a square stone, tile, or brick …1555
n. 3. a heap of dead men; a pile of dead bodies …1589 obs.
n. 4. a square-headed arrow …1600 obs.
n. 5. a pane of glass …1611
n. 6, the vagina …18C sl.
n. 7. the hard granular part of a pear …1707 obs. rare
n. 8. a sheet of paper …Bk1905 Eng. dial.
vb. to obtain or extract by laborious methods …1860
• QUARRY CURE
n. a ‘cure’ for drug addiction that involves being in prison and working in the rock quarry …1930s US drug culture sl.
• QUART
adj. healthy; in good condition; whole and sound …a1300 obs.
adv. across …Bk1905 Eng. dial.
n. 1. health; healthy or sound condition; the state of being alive and well …a1300 obs.
n. 2. a quarter of a pound …1496 obs. rare
n. 3. of butter: three pounds …1796 Eng. dial.
n. 4. a quart-pot used for drinking …L19 Aust. sl.
n. 5. a one year prison sentence …1950s W. Indies sl.
n. 6. a quarter, a twenty-five cent piece …1965 Barbados
n. 7. in poker: four cards of the same suit in sequence …1979 US sl.
n. 8. 1/4 oz (7g) of cannabis …1990s drug culture sl.
n. 9. 1/4 oz (7g) or 1/4g of a given drug …1990s drug culture sl.
vb. 1. to quarrel, to disagree, to fall out …Bk1905 Eng. dial.
vb. 2. to thwart, to go contrary to …Bk1905 Eng. dial.
• QUARTARY
adj. fourth …1839 rare
n. a quarter of a pound …1656 obs. rare
• QUARTEE
n. orig. one-fourth of the Spanish real or bit; later one-fourth of a dime, or two-and-one-half cents’ worth of some commodity …1839 Amer. dial.
• QUARTELET
n. a small quart …1453 obs. rare
• QUARTER
adj. four …1996 UK sl.
n. 1. a farthing …1641 Eng. dial. obs.
n. 2. five shillings, five dollars …M18 sl.
n. 3. a fourth of a mile …1784 Amer. dial.
n. 4. one of the four teats of a cow …1818 Eng. dial.
n. 5. a quarter inch of tobacco …M19 UK prison sl.
n. 6. a 3-month prison sentence …L19 UK criminals’ sl.
n. 7. a cigarette …1958 US sl.
n. 8. a prison sentence of 25 years …1964 US sl.
n. 9. a break taken at mid-morning or mid-afternoon …1966 Amer. dial.
n. 10. a quarter of an ounce of drugs, esp. cocaine …1968 US sl.
n. 11. $25 …1970s US sl.
n. 12. in a casino: a $25 chip …1980 US sl.
n. 13. $25 of a given drug …1980s drugs sl.
n. 14. twenty-five pounds of weights used in lifting …1989 US sl.
n. 15. a quarter of a kilo of drugs …1996 UK sl.
n. 16. in dominoes: twenty-five points …sl.
vb. 1. to lodge; to obtain board and lodging at an inn, etc. …1787 Eng. dial.
vb. 2. to move diagonally …1846 Amer. dial.
vb. 3. to take a mid-morning or mid-afternoon break …1902 Amer. dial.
• QUARTERAGE
n. quarters, place of abode …1577 rare
• QUARTER BAG
n. a plastic sandwich bag of marijuana sold for $25 …1980s African-American sl.
• QUARTER BIRD
n. one quarter pound of cocaine …1999 US sl.
• QUARTER BIT
n. a jail sentence of three months …1977 UK sl.
• QUARTER-BLOKE
n. a quartermaster(-sergeant) …1919 services’ sl.
• QUARTER BOSS
n. one who maintains law and order in a logging camp …1968 Amer. dial.
• QUARTER-CLEFT
adj. 1666 – said of timber cut from the centre to the circumference
n. 1. 1538 – wood cleft in four; quartered wood
n. 2. 1831 – a slightly crazed person; a foolish or crazy person → chiefly Eng. dial.
• QUARTER-CLIFT
n. 1856 – a crazy person → Ireland
• QUARTER-DECK
vb. 2004 – during US Marine Corps basic training: to administer physical discipline or incentive → US sl.
• QUARTEREEN
n. . M19 – a farthing (1/4d) → sl.
• QUARTERER
n. 1. 1648 – one who takes up quarters; a lodger
n. 2. 1802 – a poor person who is given temporary lodgings by way of charity → Sc.
• QUARTER FLASH AND THREE PARTS FOOLISH
phr. describing a fool who claims to have a small degree of fashionable worldliness …E19 sl.
• QUARTER FLASH AND THREE PARTS STUPID
phr. describing a fool who claims to have a small degree of fashionable worldliness …E19 sl.
• QUARTER HAND
n. 1. a person who does, or is allotted, one-fourth the amount of work expected of an able-bodied adult …1856 Amer. dial.
n. 2. a tenant farmer who pays usually one fourth of the crop as rent …1967 Amer. dial.
• QUARTER HOUSE
n. 1. a place where drug users can obtain a 1/4 oz (7g) of narcotics …1970s US drug culture sl.
n. 2. a place where mid-level heroin dealers do business …1978 US sl.
• QUARTERING
adv. diagonally, at an angle …1852 Amer. dial.
n. 1. road surface …1796 Eng. dial. obs.
n. 2. the practice of distributing freshly slaughtered meat to one’s neighbours …1975 Amer. dial.
• QUARTERING TIME
n. the middle of the morning or evening; the hour completely a quarter of a day …1902 Amer. dial.
• QUARTERIZATION
n. part of the punishment of a traitor, by dividing his body into four quarters …1727-41 obs. rare
• QUARTER LUNCH
n. a snack taken at mid-morning or mid-afternoon …1966 Amer. dial.
• QUARTER-MAN
n. 1. a lodger; one who is furnished with temporary lodgings …Bk1905 Eng. dial.
n. 2. a male pauper who was given poor relief by being lodged for a short period at a time in the various houses in the parish …1908 Sc. obs.
• QUARTERMASTER’S ERASMIC
n. soap for scrubbing floors …20C army sl.
• QUARTER MOON
n. hashish …M20 US drug culture sl.
• QUARTERN
n. 1. a prison …c975 obs.
n. 2. a quarter of anything …c1290 obs. exc. Eng. dial.
n. 3. a quarter of a pound …c1400 rare
n. 4. a quarter of a hundred, twenty-five …1472-3 obs.
n. 5. a quarter of an ounce …1607
• QUARTERN O’BRY
n. a 1/4 pint of gin …M19 sl.
• QUARTERN OF BLISS
n. a small, attractive woman …c1882 London sl.
• QUARTERN O’FINGER
n. a measure of rum …M19 sl.
• QUARTERON
n. 1780s African-American – the offspring of a mulatto and a White parent
• QUARTER PAPER
n. 1920s sl. – $25 worth of a narcotic
• QUARTER PIECE
n. 1930s US drug culture sl. – 1/4 oz (7g) of drugs
• QUARTER POT
n. 20C rhyming sl. for ‘sot’ – a drunkard
• QUARTER-POUND OF BIRD’S EYE
n. L19 sl. – a 1/4 oz (7g) of tobacco
• QUARTER ROCK
n. 1993 US sl. – crack cocaine
• QUARTERS
n. 1750s African-American – the section of a plantation where the slaves lived
• QUARTER SACK
n. 1960s drug culture sl. – $25 of a given drug
• QUARTERS BOSS
n. 1935 Amer. dial. – one who maintains law and order in a logging camp
• QUARTER STRETCH
n. 1977 UK sl. – a jail sentence of three months
• QUARTERTH
adj. 1658 obs. – fourth
• QUARTER-TIME
n. Bk1905 Eng. dial. – quarantine
• A QUARTER TO NINE
adj. 1980 Amer. dial. – of a relation between people: very close
• QUARTER-TO-TWO
n. 20C Brit. rhyming sl., usually derogatory – a Jewish person
• QUARTER-WIFE
n. 1898 Sc. obs. – a poor woman quartered in a house by the parish
• QUARTFUL
adj. c1460 obs. – sound, healthy; safe, prosperous
• QUARTFULNESS
n. 1483 obs. – health, prosperity
• QUARTLE
adj. c1420 obs. rare – quartered
• QUART-MANIA
n. 19C Brit. sl. – a hangover; the delirium tremens
• QUARTO
n. M18 colloq. – a bookseller; a publisher
• QUART O’ BROWN
n. 1853 Eng. dial. – a quart of ale
• QUART-POT TEA
n. 1878 Aust. – a tea made in the bush; a tin quart of water is set down by the fire, and when it is boiling hard, a handful of tea is thrown in
• QUART STORE
n. 1997 US sl. – a store that sells beer on the retail level
• QUARTUMVIRATE
n. 1819 rare – a body of four men
• QUARTZ
n. 1. L19 sl. – money
n. 2. 1998 UK sl. – methamphetamine that is smoked
• QUARTZOSE
adj. 1757 – mainly or entirely composed of quartz
• QUARTZOUS
adj. 1790 obs. – mainly or entirely composed of quartz
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Updated: February 26, 2023
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