quar 
When the Falcon (stooping thunder-like) 
With sudden souse her [a duck] to the ground shall 
strike, 
And, with the stroak, make on the sense-less ground 
The gut-less Quar once, twice, or thrice rebound. 
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, ii., The Lawe. 
quar 3 (kwiir), v. i. [Origin uncertain.] To 
coagulate: said of milk in the female breast. 
HaWwell. [Prov. Eng.] 
[Garden mint] is very good to be applied to the breastes 
that are stretched forth and swollen and full of milke, for 
It slaketh and softeneth the same, and keepeth the mylke 
from quarring and crudding in the brest 
Lyte, Dodoens, p. 246 (quoted in Cath. Aug., p. 84). 
quarantinable (kwor'an-ten-a-bl), a. [< quar- 
antine + -able.] Admitting of quarantine; 
amenable to or controlled by quarantine. 
quarantine (kwor'an-ten), n. [Formerly also 
i/iinrantain, quarantaine, also carentane (Lent) ; 
= D. quarantaine, karanteine = G. quarantine 
= Sw. karantdn = Dan. karantane (< F.) = Sp. 
cuarentena = Pg. quarentena = Pr. quarantena, 
carantena, <OF. quarantaine, quarentaine, qua- 
rantine, F. quarantaine = Turk, karantina, < 
It. quarantina, quarcntina, quarantana, qua- 
rentana, a number of forty, a period of forty 
days, esp. such a period of forty days, more 
or less, for the detention and observation of 
goods and persons suspected of infection, < 
ML. quarantena, quarenlena (after Kom.), a pe- 
riod of forty days, Lent, quarantine, also a 
measure of forty rods (see quarentene), < L. 
quadragin ta ( > It. quaranta = F. quarante) , forty, 
= 'E.forty: see forty.'] 1. Aperiodof fortydays. 
Specifically (a) The season of tent (6) In law, a period 
of forty days during which the widow of a man dying 
seized of land at common law may remain in her husband's 
chief mansion-house, and during which time her dower 
is to be assigned. (<> See def. 2. 
2. A term, originally of forty days, but now of 
varying length according to the exigencies of 
the case, during which a ship arriving in port 
and known or suspected to be infected with a 
malignant contagious disease is obliged to for- 
bear all intercourse with the place where she 
arrives. The United States first adopted a quarantine 
law in February, 1799. This law required federal officers 
to assist in executing State or municipal quarantine regu- 
lations. On April 29th, 1878, a national quarantine law 
was enacted, authorizing the establishment in certain con- 
tingencies of national quarantines. 
To perform their quarantine (for thirty days, as Sir Rd. 
Browne expressed it in the order of the Council, contrary 
to the import of the word, though in the general accepta- 
tion it signifies now the thing, not the time spent in do- 
ing it). Pepyt, Diary, Nov. 26, 1663. 
We came into the port of Argostoli on the twenty-sec- 
ond, and went to the town ; I desired to be ashoar as one 
performing quarantain. 
Pococke, Description of the East, II. ii. 179. 
3. The enforced isolation of individuals and 
certain objects coming, whether by sea or by 
land, from a place where dangerous communi- 
cable disease is presumably or actually present, 
with a view to limiting the spread of the mal- 
ady. Quain. 4. Hence, by extension : (a) The 
isolation of any person suffering or convales- 
cing from acute contagious disease. [Colloq.] 
(6) The isolation of a dwelling or of a town or 
district in which a contagious disease exists. 
It was ... a relief when neighbours no longer consid- 
ered the house in quarantine [after typhus]. 
George Eliot, Mlddlemarch, xxvii. 
5. A place or station where quarantine is en- 
forced. 
He happened to mention that he had been three years 
In Quarantine, keeping watch over infected travellers. 
B. Taylor, Lands of the Saracen, p. 26. 
6. The restriction within limits awarded to na- 
val cadets as a punishment. [IT. S.] Quarantine 
flag, a yellow flag displayed by a ship, to indicate that she 
has been placed in quarantine or that there is contagious 
disease on board. Quarantine of observation. See 
the quotation. 
A quarantine of observation, which is usually for six or 
three days, and is imposed on vessels with clean bills, may 
be performed at any port. Encyc. Brit., XX. 164. 
Shot-gun quarantine, forcible quarantine not duly au- 
thorized by law. [U.S.] 
quarantine (kwor'an-ten), v. t.; pret. and pp. 
quarantined, ppr. quarantining. [< quarantine, 
.] 1. To put under quarantine, in any sense 
of that word. 2. Figuratively, to isolate, as 
by authority. 
The business of these [ministers] is with human nature, 
and from exactly that are they quarantined for years. 
W. M. Baker, New Timothy, p. 13. 
quaret, . An obsolete form of quire 1 . 
quare impedit (kwa're im'pe-dit). [So called 
from the L. words quare impedit. contained in 
the writ: L. quare, why (orig. two words, qua 
re, for what cause: qua, abl.'fem. of quis, who, 
what; re, abl. of res, thing, cause); impedit, 
4894 
3d pers. sing. pres. ind. of impedire, hinder, im- 
pede: see impede."] In Eng. law, the writ (re- 
quiring defendant to show why he hindered 
plaintiff) used to try a right of presentation to 
a benefice. 
quarelt, See quarrel 1 , quarrel 2 , quarrel 3 . 
quarelett, n. An obsolete form of quarrelet. 
quarellet, . An obsolete form of quarrel 1 . 
quarentenet, . [< ML. quarentena (sc. terrte), 
a furlong, an area of forty rods: see quaran- 
tine.'} A square furlong. Pearson, Historical 
Maps of Eng., p. 51. 
quarert, " Same as quarry'*. 
quariert, n. See quarrier^. 
quark (kwark), n. [Imitative; cf . quawk.] Same 
as qumrl:. 
quarl 1 (kwarl), v. A dialectal form of quarrel 1 . 
quarl 2 (kwarl), n. [Prob. a contr. form of quar- 
rel'l (applied, as square is often applied, to an 
object of different shape).] In brickmaking, a 
piece of fire-clay in the shape of a segment of a 
circle or similar form: it is used in construct- 
ing arches for melting-pots, covers for retorts, 
and the like. 
The erection of nine six-ton pots requires 15,000 com- 
mon bricks, 10,000 fire-bricks, 160 feet of quartet, 80 fire- 
clay blocks, and 5 tons of fire-clay. /'/, Diet., III. 67. 
The cover [of a retort] is usually formed of segments of 
stoneware, or fireclay quarts, bound together with iron. 
Sputa' Encyc. ilanuf., I. 156. 
quarl 3 (kwiirl), n. [Origin obscure.] A me- 
dusa or jellyfish. 
Some on the stony star-fish ride, . . . 
And some on the jellied quarl, that flings 
At once a thousand streamy stings. 
J. R. Drake, Culprit Fay, 8t. 13. 
quar-mant, . A quarryman. 
The sturdy Quar-man with steel-headed Cones 
And massie Sledges slenteth out the stones. 
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, ii. . The Magnificence. 
quaroft, adv. An obsolete dialectal form of 
whereof'. Balliwell. 
quar-pitt. n. A stone-pit; a quarry. Wlialley. 
[West of Eng.] 
quarrt, and v. See quar 1 . 
quarret, a. A Middle English form of quarry 1 . 
quarrel 1 (kwor'el), n. [Early mod. E. also quarel, 
querel; < ME. quarel, quarell, quarelle, querel, 
querele, < OF. querele, F. quereUe = 'Pr. qttercla, 
querella = Sp. querella = Pg. querela = It. qite- 
rela, < L. querela, a complaining, a complaint, 
< queri, pp. questus, complain, lament. Cf. 
querent 1 , querimony, querulous, etc., from the 
same source.] If. A complaint; a lament; 
lamentation. 
Whennes comyn elles alle thyse foreyne Complayntes or 
quereles of pletynges? Chaucer, Boethius, fit. prose 3. 
Thou lyf, thou luste, thou mannis hele, 
Biholde my cause and my querele! 
Gower, MS. Soc. Antiq. 134, t. 39. (Halliinll.) 
As his frendes wepte for hym lyenge on the byere they 
sayd with swete and deevoute querettet, which suffred her 
devoute seruant to deye without confession and penaunce. 
Golden Legend, quoted in Prompt. Parv., p. 419. 
If I shulde here answere to all these yuerels particularly 
and as the woorthynesse of the thynge requireth, I myght 
fynde matter sufficient to make a volume of iuste quanti- 
tie, and perhappes be tedious to sunime. 
R. Eden (First Books on America, ed. Arber, p. 53). 
2. An accusation; in law, a complaint; an ac- 
tion, real or personal. 
The wars were scarce begun but he, in fear 
Of quarrels 'gainst his life, fled from his country. 
lleau. and Fl., Laws of Candy, i. 1. 
3. Cause, occasion, or motive of complaint, 
objection, dispute, contention, or debate ; the 
basis or ground of being at variance with 
another; hence, the cause or side of a certain 
party at variance with another. 
My quarell is growndid vppon right, 
Which gevith me corage for to fight 
Generydei (E. E. T. 8.), L 3210. 
Mi-thinks I could not die anywhere so contented as in 
the King's company ; his cause being just and \i\squarrel 
honourable. Shak., Hen. V., iv. 1. 133. 
Herodias had a quarrel against him. 
Mark vi. 19. 
He thought he had a good quarrel to attack him. 
Hotinshed. 
Rejoice and be merry in the Lord ; be stout in his cause 
and quarrel. 
J. Bradford, Letters (Parker Soc., 1853), II. 249. 
What is your quarrel to "shallops " ? 
Gray, Letters, I. 301. 
4f. Cause in general ; reason ; plea ; ground. 
I undyrstand that Mastre Fytzwater hathe a syster, a 
mayd, to mary ; . . . ye may tellehym.synsehe wyll have 
my servyse, . . . syche a bargayn myght be mad ; . . . for 
then he shold be swer that I shold not be flyttyng, and I 
had syche a qwarell to kepe me at home. 
Ponton Letters, III. 164. 
quarrel 
Wives are young men's mistresses, companions for mid- 
die age, and old men's nurses, so as a man may have a 
quarrel to marry when he will. 
Bacon, Marriage and Single Life (ed. 1887). 
5. Altercation ; an altercation ; an angry dis- 
pute ; a wrangle ; a brawl. 
If I can fasten but one cup upon him, 
With that which he hath drunk to night already, 
He'll be as full of quarrel and offence 
As my young mistress' dog. Shak., Othello, ii. 3. 52, 
If upon a sudden quarrel two persons fight, and one of 
them kills the other, this is manslaughter. 
Blackstone, Com., IV. xiv. 
6. A breach of friendshiporconcord; open vari- 
ance between parties ; a feud. 
England was, from the force of mere dynastic causes, 
dragged into the quarrel. Freeman, Norman Conq., V. 63. 
The Persian Ambassador has had a quarrel with the 
court Greville, Memoirs, June 25, 1819. 
7t. A quarreler. [Rare.] 
Though 't [pomp] be temporal, 
Yet if that quarrel, fortune, do divorce 
It from the bearer, 'tis a sufferance panging. 
Shak., Hen. VIII., ii. 3. 14. 
Double quarrel, eeeles., a complaint of a clerk to the arch- 
bishop against an Inferior ordinary, for delay of justice. 
No double quarrel shall hereafter be granted out of any 
of the archbishop's courts at the suit of any minister who- 
soever, except he shall first take his personal oath that 
the said eight-and-twenty days at the least are expired, 
etc. 95(A Canon of the Church of England (1603). 
To pick a quarrel. See picki. To take up a quarrelt, 
to compose or adjust a quarrel ; settle a dispute. 
I knew when seven justices could not take up a quarrel, 
but when the parties were met themselves, one of them 
thought but of an If, ... and they shook hands. 
Shak., As you Like it, v. 4. 104. 
= Syn. B and 6. Quarrel, Altercation, Affray, Fray, Melee, 
Brawl, Broil, Scujfte, Wrangle, Squabble, Feud. A quarrel 
is a matter of 111 feeling and hard words in view of sup- 
posed wrong: it stops just short of blows; any use beyond 
this is now figurative. A Itercation is the spoken part of a 
quarrel, the parties speaking alternately. An altercation 
is thus a quarrelsome dispute between two persons or two 
sides. A fray and fray express a quarrel that has come to 
blows In a public place : they are often used of the strug- 
gles of war, implying personal activity. M(lee emphasizes 
the confusion in which those engaged in an affray or strug- 
gle are mingled. Brawl emphasizes the unbecoming char- 
acter and noisiness of the quarrel ; while broil adds the idea 
of entanglement, perhaps with several : two are enough 
for a braui ; at least three are needed for a broU : as, a brawl 
with a neighbor ; a neighborhood broil. A scuffle is, in this 
connection, a confused or undignified struggle, at close 
quarters, between two, to throw each other down, or a 
similar struggle of many. A wrangle is a severe, unrea- 
soning, and noisy, perhaps confused, altercation. A squab- 
bit is a petty wrangle, but is even less dignified or irration- 
al. A feud is a deeply rooted animosity between two sets 
of kindred, two parties, or possibly two persons. See nnt- 
mosity. 
quarrel 1 (kwor'el), v.; pret. and pp. quarreled 
or quarrelled, ppr. quarreling or quarrelling. 
[Early mod. E. also quarel, querel; s OF. quere- 
ler, quereller, complain, complain of. accuse, 
sue, claim, F. quereller, quarrel with, scold, 
refl. have a quarrel, quarrel, = Pr. querelhar = 
Sp. querellar, complain, lament, bewail, com- 
plain of, = Pg. querelar, complain, = It. quere- 
lare, complain of, accuse, indict, refl. complain, 
lament, < L. querelari, make a complaint, ML. 
querelare, complain, complain of, accuse, < L. 
querela, complaint, quarrel: see quarrel 1 , n.~\ 
1. intrans. 1. To find cause of complaint ; find 
fault; cavil. 
There are many which affirme that they haue sayled 
rownd abowt Cuba. But whether it bee so or not, or 
whether, enuyinge the good fortune of this man, they seeke 
occasions of querelinge ageynste hym, I can not iudge. 
R. Eden, tr. of Peter Martyr (First Books on America, 
[ed. Arber, p. 90). 
I would not quarrel with a slight mistake. 
Roscommon, tr. of Horace's Art of Poetry. 
Viator. I hope we have no more of these Alps to pass 
over. 
Piscator. No, no, Sir, only this ascent before you, which 
you see is not very uneasy, and then you will no more 
quarrel with your way. Cotton, in Walton's Angler, ii. 232. 
All are prone to quarrel 
With fate, when worms destroy their gourd, 
Or mildew spoils their laurel. 
F. Locker, The Jester's Moral. 
2. To dispute angrily or violently; contend; 
squabble. 
Not only, sir, this your all-licensed fool, 
But other of your insolent retinue 
Do hourly carp and quarrel. Shak., Lear, i. 4. 222. 
And Jealousy, and Fear, and Wrath, and War 
Quarrel'd, although in heaven, about their place. 
J. Beaumont. Psyche, i. 105. 
If we grumbled a little now and then, it was soon over, 
for we were never fond enough to quarrel. 
Sheridan, The Duenna, i. 3. 
3t. To disagree ; be incongruous or incompati- 
ble ; fail to be in accordance, in form or essence 
Some defect in her 
Did quarrel with the noblest grace she owed, 
And put it to the foil. Shak., Tempest, iii. 1. 45. 
