Quassia 
It is characterized by a large columnar receptacle bearing 
a small live-lulled calyx, live lout? IT.... -t petals ten thread- 
like stamens, and a nve-lolied ovary ripening into live flesh) 
drupes There are 2 species : one, little known, is from 
Branch of Quassia nmnra, with inflorescence. 
a, ;. flower; *, the fruit. 
tropical Africa; the other, Q. amara, is a tall and smooth 
tree of tropical America, with intensely bitter wood, bear- 
ing alternate pinnate leaves with a winged petiole, and 
having terminal racemes of large scarlet tubular flowers. 
2 [I. c.] A drug, also called Utter-wood, con- 
sisting of the wood of Picrsena (Quassia) ex- 
celsa, and of two or three related trees; also, a 
medicinal preparation from these woods. The 
original tree was Quassia amara, the Surinam quassia. Its 
wood is still In use in France and Germany, but is largely 
superseded by that of the more abundant Picreena ex- 
celsa a tall tree, the bitter-ash of Jamaica and some small- 
er islands. A substitute for these is Simaruba amara, 
the mountain-damson or bitter damson or stavewood of 
the West Indies and northern South America. Quassia- 
wood is imported in billets, and appears In the shops in 
the form of chips, raspings, etc. As a remedy it possesses 
in the highest degree the properties of the simple bitters 
Its virtues are due to the principle quassln. Cups turned 
from the wood impart a bitter taste to their contents, and 
were once popular. A sweetened infusion of quassia is 
useful to destroy flies. Picrsena excelsa has sometimes 
been substituted for hops in brewing, but this use is con- 
sidered deleterious. See bitter ash (under ami), oater- 
wood, and mountain-damson. 
quassia-tree (kwash'ia-tre), n. Any of the 
trees producing the drug quassia ; a bitterwood- 
Qvuissilabia (kwas-i-la'bi-a), n. [NL. (Jordan 
and Brayton, 1878), < L. quassus, pp. of quaterc, 
shake, + Ittbium, lip.] A genus of catostomoid 
fishes of the United States ; the hare-lip suckers. 
4901 
3. To flatter. Hntliicrll. [Prov. Eng.] 
Il.t iiitniii.t. TCI squat. 
quat-t (kwot), H. [Origin obscure.] 1. A 
pustule or pimple.. 2. Figuratively, a small, 
slmliby, or insignificant person. 
I have rubb'd this young quat almost to the sense, 
And he grows angry. Shak., Othello, v. 1. 11. 
quat 3 t (kwot), (. *. [A strong pret. and pp. of 
quit, used also as inf.] To quit. 
quat 3 (kwot), p. . [See quafl, v.] Quit; free; 
released. [Scotch.] 
quat 4 , proit. A dialectal form of What. 
quata (kwa'ta), n. Same as coaitn. 
quatch 1 (kwoch), . i. [Origin obscure.] To 
tell; be a telltale; peach. Salliwell. [Prov. 
quatch 1 (kwoch), . [< quatch^, v.] A word. 
Hdtliicell. [Prov. Eng.] 
Noe not a quatch, sad poets ; doubt you 
There is not greife enough without you? 
Dp. Corbet, Elegy on Death of Queen Anne. (Dames.) 
quatch 2 t (kwoch), a. [Cf. qua ft, squat (?).] 
Squat; flat. 
It is like a barber's chair, that fits all buttocks ; the pin- 
buttock, the 4ateA-buttock, the brawn buttock or any 
buttock. Shak., All's Well, ii. 2. 18. 
quater-COUSin, . Same as cater-cousin. 
quaterfoil, See quatrefoil. 
quatern (kwa'tern), a. [< L. quaterm, four 
each, by fours, distributive, < quattuor, four : 
see quarfl. Cf. qvlreP.] Consisting of four; 
fourfold; growing by fours: as, quatern leaves. 
quaternary (kwa-ter'na-ri), a. and H. [< L. 
quaternarius, consisting of four each, contain- 
ing four, <quaterni, four each, by fours: see 
quatern.'} T. a. 1 . Consisting of four ; arranged 
or grouped in fours. 
Reproductive organs . . . solitary or quaternary in the 
8P Te& and Decaisne, Botany (trans.), p. 966. 
Q laeera is the cutlips, or May, splitmouth, or rabbit- 
mouth sucker, a singular flsh of the Ohio valley and south- 
ward of an olivaceous or brownish color above, the sides 
and belly silvery, the lower fins tinged with orange, and a 
peculiar formation of the mouth which has suggested both 
the technical and the vernacular names. 
quassin(kwas'in),. [< quassia + -in*.] ine 
neutral bitter principle of quassia (Picrxna ex- 
celsa). This substance crystallizes from aqueous solu- 
tions in very small white prisms. Its taste is intensely 
bitter but it is destitute of odor. It is scarcely soluble 
in common ether, slightly soluble in water, and more sol- 
uble in alcohol. Also called quassun. 
quassite(kwas'it),. [< quassia + -ite*.] bame 
as quassin. 
quasumt, pron. [ME., < qua, dial, form of who, 
+ sum, mod. E. some.'] Whoso. 
Quo-sum this tale can beter tende, 
For Cristis loue he hit amende. 
Holy Rood (E. E. T. S.X p. 120. 
quat 1 (kwot), v. [< OF. quatir, quattir, catir, 
press down, strike down, plunge, sink, hide, 
refl. crouch, squat, hide, = It. qualtare, dial. 
cattare, crouch, lie close, squat, < L. eoactare, 
press together, constrain, force, < cogere, pp. 
eoactun, press together, urge: see cogent. Cf. 
squat, (., the same as qimt, with a prefix; and 
cf. also the related cache* and squash*.] I. 
trans. If. To press down; subdue. 
The renowne of her chastitie was such that it almost 
quitted those sparkes that heated him on to such lawlesse 
Greene, Never too Late (Works, ed. Dyce, Int., p. Mi.). 
2f. To oppress; satiate. 
Had Philotimus been served in at the first course, when 
your stomach was not quatted with other daintier fare, his 
relish had perhaps been something loathsome. 
Philotimus, 1583. (Hares.) 
To the stomack quatted with dainties al delicates seeme 
queasie. Lyly, Euphues, Anat. of Wit, p. 44. 
2. [cay.] In geol., noting that part of the geo- 
logical series which is more recent than the 
Tertiary; Post-tertiary. (See Tertiary.) The 
oldest and most general division of the Quaternary is into 
dUuvial and allmial, by which terms are meant respec- 
tively coarse detrital material and fine detrital material 
the one the result of rapid, the other of slower currents 
of water. The former presence of ice, both fixed and 
floating, over a part of the northern hemisphere, and es- 
pecially in the regions where geology was earliest culti- 
vated, has greatly complicated the question of this divi- 
sion of the Quaternary into subgroups or epochs. Thus 
diluvial has come to be replaced for the most part by gla- 
cial; and some English geologists divide the Quaternary 
Intaalacial and recent, using the term Pleistocene also as 
the equivalent of glacial. The term recent has also as its 
synonym both alluvial and human. While the essential 
difference between Tertiary and Quaternary is theoreti- 
cally supposed to be that in the former a portion of the 
fossil species are extinct, while in the latter all are living, 
this does not apply in the case of land-animals, especially 
the mammals. In fact, there is, over extensive areas, 
great difficulty in deciding the question whether certain 
formations shall be called Tertiary or Quaternary, as, for 
instance, in the case of the Pampean deposits, which, 
although containing great numbers of species of mam- 
mals all or nearly all extinct, are generally considered by 
geologists as being of Quaternary age. 
3 In old chem., noting those compounds which 
contained four elements, as fibrin, gelatin, etc. 
4. In math., containing, as a quantic, or ho- 
mogeneous integral function, four variables. 
A surface may be called a quaternary locus, because de- 
fined by a quaternary equation, or one equating a quater- 
nary quantic to zero. Quaternary cubic. See cubic. 
Quaternary number, ten : so called by the Pythagore- 
ans because equal to 1 + 2 -t 3 + 4. Pythagoras, in the 
oath of the brotherhood, was called the revealer of the 
quaternary number, on account of some secret of arith- 
metic, possibly an abacus. -Quaternary cjuadrics. *ee 
quadric. 
II. ii. A group of four things. 
The objections I made against the quaternary of ele- 
ments and ternary of principles needed not to be opposed 
so much against the doctrines themselves. 
Boyle, Works, 1. DOCJ. 
quaternate (kwa-ter'nat), a. [< NL. quater- 
natus, < L. gitatcrni, four each: see quatern.} 
Consisting of four Quaternate leaf, a leaf that 
consists of four leaflets. 
quaternion (kwa-ter'ni-pn), n. [Also quarter- 
H ion ; < L. quatrr'nio(it-), the number four,a body 
or group of four, < quaterm, four each, by fours : 
see quatern.] 1 . A set, group, or body of four : 
applied to persons or things. 
He put him in prison, and delivered him to four quar- 
ternions of soldiers. Acts ' 4 - 
Myself . am called Anteros, or Love's enemy; the 
more welcome therefore to thy court, and the fitter to con- 
duct this quarternion. B. Jonson, Cynthia's Bevels, v. 3. 
When and where this quarternion rhyme, as it is used by 
Berceo, was first introduced, cannot be determined. 
Ticknor, Span. Lit., I. 27. 
2. A word of four syllables; a quadrisyllable. 
quatrefoil 
The triad* and ijuarternions with which he loaded his 
speech. 
3. A fourfold quantity capable of being ex- 
pressed in the form .ri + yj + -/' + ' where x, 
y, z, w are sealers, or real numbers, while , j, 
A- are vectors, or quantities whose' squares are 
negative scalars. The calculus of such quan- 
tities is termed i/niiti'mimix. 
A Quaternion is the quotient of two vectors, or of two 
directed right lines in space, considered as depending on 
a system of FourOeometrical Elements, and as expressible 
by an algebraical symbol of Quadrinomial form. Hie sci- 
ence or Calculus, of Quaternions is a new mathematical 
method wherein the foregoing conception of a quaternion 
is unfolded and symbolically expressed, and is applied to 
various classes of algebraical, geometrical, and physical 
questions, so as to discover many new theorems, and to ar- 
rive at the solution of many difficult problems. 
Sir W. Kuwait Hamilton. 
Conjugate of a quaternion. See conjugate.- Conju- 
gate quaternions. See collate. -Quaternion group. 
quaternion (kwa-ter'ni-on), v. t. [< quater- 
nion, n.] To divide into quaternions, hies, or 
companies. 
The Angels themselves ... are distinguish! and qua- 
terniond into their celestial! I'rinccdomes. 
Milton, Church-tlovernment, 1. 1. 
quaternionist (kwa-ter'ni-on-ist), . [< qua- 
ternion + -i**.] A student of quaternions. 
Do we depart wider from the primary traditions of arith- 
metic than the Quaternionixt does? 
J. Venn, Symbolic Logic, p. 91. 
quaternity(kwa-ter'm-ti),. [= F. quaternM; 
as quatern + -it//.] 1. The state of beingfour; 
the condition of making up the number four. 
The number of four stands much admired, not only in 
the quaternity of the elements, which are the principles 
of bodies, but in the letters of the name of God. 
Sir T. Browne, Vulg. Err., iv. 12. 
2. A group of four. 
So that their whole scale, of all that is above body, was 
indeed not a trinity, but a quarternity, or four ranks and 
degrees of beings one below another. 
Cudworth, Intellectual System, p. 5o7. 
quateron, . Same as quadroon. 
quatorzam (ka-tor'zan), n. [Formerly also 
quaterzauii ; < OF. quatorzaine,quatorsaine,the 
number fourteen, < quatorse, fourteen : see qua- 
torze.] A stanza or poem of fourteen lines; a 
sonnet. 
Put out your rush candles, you poets & rimers, and be- 
queath your crazed quarterzayns to the chandlers ; for loe ! 
here he commeth that hath broken your legs. 
Nailie, quoted in Pierce Penilesse, Int., p. xxiv. 
His [Draytons] next publication is Idea's mirror; 
Amours in Quatorzaiiu, 1594. It contains fifty-one : son- 
ne t a . If. and Q., 6th ser., X. 81. 
quatorze (ka-torz'), . [< F. quatorse, < L. quat- 
tuordecim, fourteen, < quattuor, four, + decent, 
ten : see fourteen.] In the game of piquet, the 
four aces, kings, queens, knaves, or tens : so 
called because such a group of four, in the hand 
that holds the highest, counts fourteen points. 
quatrain (kwot'ran), n. [Formerly also,improp., 
quartrain ; < F. quatrain, a stanza of four lines, 
< quatrf, f our,< L. quattuor = E./OMJ-: see four.] 
A stanza of four lines riming alternately. 
I have chosen to write my poem in quatrains, or stanzas 
of four in alternate rhyme, because I have ever judged them 
more noble, and of greater dignity both for the sound and 
number, than any other verse in use amongst us. 
Dryden, Account of Annus Mirabuis. 
Who but Lander could have written the faultless and 
pathetic quatrain? 
I strove with none, for none was worth my strife; 
Nature I loved, and, next to Nature. Art ; 
I warmed both hands before the fire of life ; 
It sinks, and I am ready to depart. 
Stedman, Viet Poets, p. 69. 
quatraylet, [< OF. quatrc-ayle, etc., < quatre, 
four, + ayle, grandfather: see ayle.] A irnal* 
ancestor three generations earlier than one's 
grandfather. 
Thomas Gould, . . . who died in 1520. He was the quat- 
raiile of Zaccheus Gould, the New England immigrant. 
New England BMiopolist, I. Tl. 
quatre-COUSint, Same as cater-cousin, 
quatrefoil (kat'er-foil), n. [Also quaterfotl, 
quarterfoil ; < ME. katrefoil, < OF. (and F.) qua- 
trefeuille, < quatre ,four (< L. quattuor = E./oi/r), 
+ feuille, leaf (< L. folium, leaf) : see four and 
foil 1 .] 1. A leaf with four leaflets, as some- 
times that of clover. 
And katrefoU, whenne thai beth up yspronge, 
Transplaunte hem into lande ydight witli dounge. 
Palladius, Husbondrie (E. E. T. S.), p. 191. 
2. In arch., an opening or a panel divided by 
cusps or folia- 
tions into four 
foils, or, more 
correctly, the 
figure formed by 
(iuatrefoiU. the CUSpS. This 
