1901. Clement Scott [in Free Lance, 19 Oct., 94, 1.] What am I to do with the whisky? It may do me good, but, on the other hand, it may give me an everlasting headache, or my quietus.
Quiff, subs. (general).—A satisfactory
result: spec. an end obtained
by means not strictly
conventional. As verb. = to do
well; to jog along merrily.
Also (tailors') to quiff in the
press = to change a breast
pocket from one side to the
other; to quiff the bladder
= to conceal baldness: cf. quiff
(military) = a small flat curl on
the temple.
Verb. (venery).—To copulate: see Ride.—Grose (1785).
c.1709. Old Ballad [Durfey, Pills (1709), iv. 18]. By quiffing with Cullies three Pound she had got.
Qui-Hi, subs. phr. (Anglo-Indian).—An
English resident or official
in Bengal.
1855. Thackeray, Newcomes, lxii. The old boys, the old generals, the old colonels, the old qui-his . . . came and paid her homage.
Quill, verb. (Winchester College).—To
curry favour; hence, to
be quilled = to be pleased;
quiller (or quilster) = a toady
(Fr. suceur): cf. sucker.
Phrases.—Under the quill = under discussion: spec. in writing; to carry a good quill = to write well; in a quill = in a push; to piss in a quill (Irish proverb: 'They pissed in the same quill') = to be agreed to act as one; to piss through a quill = to write.
1594. Shakspeare, 2 Hen. VI., i. 3, 1. My masters let's stand close; my lord protector will come this way by and by, and then we may deliver our supplications in the quill.
1740. North, Examen, 70. So strangely did Papist and Fanatic or . . . the Anti-court Party piss in a quill; agreeing in all things that tended to create troubles and disturbances.
d.1678. Marvell, Poems [Murray], 188. I'll have a council shall sit always still, And give me a license to do what I will; and two secretaries shall piss through a quill.
1692. Hacket, Life of Williams, ii. 28. The subject which is now under the quill is the Bishop of Lincoln.
Quill-driver (-man, -monger,-merchant;
Brother, or
Knight of the Quill), subs.
phr. (common).—A penman—author,
journalist, clerk, or (racing)
bookmaker: Fr. rond de
cuir. Also hero of the quill
= a distinguished author. Hence
quill-driving = clerking; to
drive the quill = to write.—Grose
(1785).
1680. Observ. 'Curse ye Meroz,' 7. This Aphorism is but borrowed from another Brother of the Quill.
1691-2. Gent. Jrnl., 2 Mar. I know some of your sturdy tuff Knights of the Quill, your old Soakers at the Cabbaline Font.
1719. Durfey, Pills, &c., iv. 319. When Inns of Court Rakes, And Quill-driving Prigs.
d.1745. Swift, Epil. to Play for Benefit of Irish Weavers [Davies]. Their brother quill-men, workers for the stage, For sorry stuffe can get a crown a page.
1761. Murphy, The Citizen, 'Dram. Pers.' Quildrive, clerk to old Philpot.
1827. Lytton, Pelham, xlix. Tolerably well known, I imagine, to the gentlemen of the quill.
1836. M. Scott, Tom Cringle, vii. A dozen clerks were quill-driving. Ibid., Cruise of the Midge, 3. I had much greater license allowed me than . . . any of my fellow quill-drivers.
1853. Kingsley, Hypatia, xii. Some sort of slave's quill-driving.
1885. Weekly Echo, 5 Sep. This most eccentric of quill-drivers gets up his facts in a slap-dash fashion.
