1882. Daily Telegraph, 30 Dec., 6, 1. Gangways and quarter-decks bristling with guns and lower portholes rendered formidable to the eye by those sham wooden pieces called quakers, because they were never fought.
Stewed-quaker, subs. phr. (American colloquial).—A remedy for colds: composed of vinegar and molasses (or honey), mixed with butter and drunk hot.
Quaker City, subs. phr. (American).—Philadelphia.
[William
Penn, its founder, belonged to
the Society of Friends.]
Quaker's bargain, subs. phr.
(old).—A bargain 'Yea' or
'Nay'; a 'take-it-or-leave-it'
transaction.
1697. Vanbrugh, Prov. Wife, ii. Lady F. At what rate would this . . . be brought off? . . . Heart. Why, madam, to drive a quaker's bargain, and make but one word with you, if, &c.
Quaking-cheat, subs. phr. (old).—1. A calf; and (2) a sheep.—B. E. (c.1696); Grose (1785).
Qualify, verb. (venery).—To copulate:
see Greens and Ride.
Quality (The), subs. (once literary,
now colloquial or vulgar).—The
gentry; the upper ten
(q.v.): cf. 'the dignity' applied
(Patten, 1548) to nobles in the
army. Whence quality-air =
a distinguished carriage.
1599. Shakspeare, Henry V., iv., 8, 94. The rest are princes, barons, lords, knights, squires, and gentlemen of blood and quality.
1700. Centlivre, Perjured Husband, III., ii. 'Tis an insufferable fault, that quality can have no pleasure above the vulgar, except it be in not paying their debts.
1749. Smollett, Gil Blas [Routledge], 106. They have themselves quality airs.
1857. A. Trollope, Barchester Towers, xxxv. The quality, as the upper classes in rural districts are designated by the lower with so much true discrimination, were to eat a breakfast, and the non-quality were to eat a dinner.
Qualm, subs. (old: once, and
still, literary).—'A stomack-fit;
also calmness.' Also qualmish
= 'crop-sick, queasy stomackt.'—B.
E. (c. 1696).
Quandary, subs. (colloquial).—A
difficulty or doubt; 'a low word'
(Johnson, 1755). Also as verb. =
to hesitate; to puzzle.—Grose
(1785). [See quot. 1563.]
c.1440. Relig. Pieces [E. E. T. S.], II. The sexte vertue es strengthe . . . euynly to suffire the wele and the waa, welthe or wandreth.
1563. Foxe, Acts and Monuments [Oliphant, New. Eng. i. 540. The k is prefixed; the old wandrethe (turbatio) becomes quandary].
1590. Greene, Never Too Late [Wks. viii, 84]. Thus in a quandarie, he sate.
d.1655. Rev. T. Adams, Works. I. 505. He quandaries whether to go forward to God, or . . . to turn back to the world.
1681. Otway, Soldier's Fortune, iii. I am quandary'd like one going with a party to discover the enemy's camp, but had lost his guide upon the mountains.
1748. Smollett, Rod. Random, liv. Throw persons of honour into such quandaries as might endanger their lives.
1874. Mrs. H. Wood, Johnny Ludlow, I S., No. xxiii., 424. Sam Rimmer sat looking at her as if in a quandary, gently rubbing his hair, that shone again in the sun.
Quantum, subs. (common).—As
much as you want or ought to
have: spec. a drink; a go (q.v.).
Whence quantum suff =
enough.
