Qui-tam, subs. phr. (old).—See quot. 1864. Hence qui-tam horse = 'one that will both carry and draw' (Grose, 1785).
1782. Parker, Humorous Sketches, 189. A lawyer [speaks of] John Doe and Richard Roe, terms, vacations, Quitams, processes and executions.
1843. Moncrieff, Scamps of London, ii. 2. The quitam lawyer, the quack doctor.
1864. Hotten, Slang Dict., s.v. Qui-tam, a solicitor. He who, i.e., "he who, as much for himself as for the King," seeks a conviction, the penalty for which goes half to the informer and half to the Crown. The term would, therefore, with greater propriety, be applied to a spy than to a solicitor.
Quius-kius, intj. (theatrical).—A
warning to silence.
Quiver, subs. (venery).—The female
pudendum: see Monosyllable.
c. 1600-20. Old Ballad, 'A Man's Yard' [Farmer, Merry Songs and Ballads (1897), i. 11]. And every wench, by her owne will, Would keep [it] in her quiuer still.
Quiz (or Quoz), subs. (colloquial).—1.
A puzzle; a jest; a hoax:
also quizzification; (2) a jesting
or perplexing critic; also
quizzer; and (3) any odd-looking
person or thing. As verb. = to
banter; to puzzle; to confound.
Hence quizzical (or quizzically)
= jocose or humorous;
TO quizzify = to make ridiculous.—Grose
(1785); Bee
(1823).
1749. Smollett, Gil Blas [Routledge], 147. Women of light character . . . play the comedy of love in many masks, . . . as they fall in with the quiz, the coxcomb, or the bully.
1797. D'Arblay, Diary, vi. 138. I cannot suffer you to make such a quiz of yourself. Ibid., vi. 187. These and his spout of satire are mere quizziness. Ibid., Carmilla (1796), vii. ix. What does the old quoz mean?
1797. Colman, Heir at Law, iv. 3. Dick. What a damn'd gig you look like. Pangloss. A gig! Umph; that's an Eton phrase—the Westminsters call it quiz.
1803. C. K. Sharpe [Correspondence (1888), i. 17]. Billy Bamboozle, a quizzer and wit.
1803. Edgeworth, Belinda, ix. You have taken a fancy to the old quizical fellow. Ibid., xi. After all, my dear, the whole may be a quizzification of Sir Philip's.
1815. Scott, Guy Mannering, iii. What were then called bites and bams, since denominated hoaxes and quizzes.
1818. Austen, Northanger Abbey, 33. Where did you get that quiz of a hat? it makes you look like an old witch.
1830. Poole, Turning the Tables, 1. I'll quiz his heart out.
1840. Lytton, Paul Clifford, vi. Stab my vitals, but you are a comical quiz.
1855. Thackeray, Newcomes, lix. The landlord of the "King's Arms" looked knowing and quizzical. Ibid., lxii. I don't think it's kind of you to quiz my boy for doing his duty to his Queen and to his father too, sir.
1856. C. Bronte, Professor, iii. He was not odd—no quiz—yet he resembled no one else I had ever seen before.
1837. Carlyle, Diamond Necklace, xvi. How many fugitive leaves quizzical, imaginative, or at least mendacious, were flying about in newspapers.
1902. Henley [Hazlitt, Works, 1. xxi.]. And dead is Burke, and Fox is dead, and Byron, most quizzical of lords.
2. (American students').—A weekly oral examination: also spec., notes made and passed on to another: hence quiz-class, surgery-quiz, legal-quiz, &c.; quiz-master = a tutor or coach (q.v.). Also as verb. = (1) to attend, and (2) to conduct such a class.
3. (general).—A monocular eye-glass: also quizzing-glass.
1843. Thackeray, Irish Sketch Book, xxiv. The dandy not uncommonly finishes off with a horn quizzing-glass.
