quell 
see qutiiH. The common identification of quell 
with kill 1 , of which it is said to be the earlier 
form, is erroneous.] I. trans. If. To cause to 
die ; put to death ; kill ; slay. 
Take hed that tbou reveal it ere thou be quelled to 
death. Holy Rood (E. E. T. S.), p. 8. 
The dokes criden as men wolde hum quelle. 
Chaucer, Nun's Priest's Tale, 1. 570. 
Hee lete catch the King it kyllen hyin soone, 
And his Princes of price prestlich hee quelde. 
Alisaunder of Macedoine (E. E. T. S.), 1. 925. 
Treading one vpon another, they (fuelled to death . . . 
a multitude of the common souldiours. 
Hakluyt's Voyages, II. 20. 
And quell'd the Snakrs which round his [William's] Cra- 
dle ran. Prior, Carmen Seculare (1700), at 9. 
2. To cause to cease; subdue; crush: as, to 
quell an insurrection. 
Appointed . 
to quell seditions and tumults. 
Atterbury. 
The mutiny was quelled with much less difficulty than 
had been feared. Lecky, Eng. in 18th Cent., xiv. 
3. To reduce to peace or inaction; quiet; 
allay. 
But Consideration is of greater Use, as it suggests Argu- 
ments from Reason to quell and allay the sudden heat of 
Passions. Stillinyfleet, Sermons, III. vii. 
Me Agamemnon urg'd to deadly hate ; 
'Tis past I quell it ; I resign to fate. 
Pope, Iliad, xviii. 144. 
Caroline refused tamely to succumb. . . . Bent on vic- 
tory over a mortal pain, she did her best to quell it. 
Charlotte Bronte, Shirley, xi. 
4f. To dash out ; destroy. 
They nghten, and bryngen hors and man to grounde, 
And with hire axes oute the braynes quelle. 
Chaucer, Troilus, iv. 40. 
=Syn. 2. To overpower, put down, lay, smother. 3. To 
calm, compose. 
II. t intrans. 1. To die; perish. 
Yet did he quake and quiver, like to quell. 
Spenser, F. Q., VII. vii. 42. 
2. To abate. 
Winter's wrath beginnes to quell. 
Spenser, Shep. Cal., March. 
quell (kwel), n. [<.quell,v.~\ If. Murder. [Rare.] 
What cannot you and I ... put upon 
His spongy officers, who shall bear the guilt 
Of our great quell? Shak., Macbeth, i. 7. 72. 
2. Power or means of quelling or subduing. 
[Rare and poetical.] 
Awfully he [Love] stands, 
A sovereign quell is in his waving hands ; 
No sight can bear the lightning of his bow. 
Keats, Endymion, ii. 
queller (kwel'er), . [< ME. queller, < AS. 
cwellere, a killer, < cwellan, kill : see quell.'] It. 
One who quells or kills; a slayer. 
And our posterite shalbe reproued as children of home- 
cides, ye of regicides, and prince queller*. 
Hall, Hen. IV., an. 1. 
Mrs. Quickly. Murder ! . . . thou art a honey-seed [homi- 
cide], a man-owcWer, and a wom&n-queller. 
Shak., 2 Hen. IV., il. 1. 59. 
2. One who subdues or crushes. 
Hail, Son of the Most High, heir of both worlds, 
Queller of Satan ! Milton, P. R., iv. 634. 
quelliot, [< Sp. cuello, a ruff.] A kind of 
ruff. 
Our rich mockado doublet, with our cut cloth-of-gold 
sleeves, and our quellio. Ford, Lady's Trial, ii. 1. 
Your Hungerland bands, and Spanish quellio ruffs. 
Massinger, City Madam, Iv. 4. 
quelm, v. t. An obsolete or dialectal form of 
whelm. Babees Book (E. E. T. S.), p. 323. 
quelquechose (kelk'shoz), n. [Also queVcehose 
(also queckshoes, keckshose, kickshose, kickshaws, 
etc.: see kickshaw), < P. quelquechose, some- 
thing, < quelque, some, + -chose, thing: see 
chose 2 . Cf. kickshaw.] A trifle ; a kickshaw. 
Only let me love none, no, not the sport, 
From country grass to confitures of court, 
Or city's quelque-choses, let not report 
My mind transport. 
Donne, Love's Usury. 
quemet, [ME., also quern, cweme, earlier 
i-i/ueme, i-cweme, < AS. gecweme, pleasing, 
agreeable, acceptable, fit (cf., with diff. prefix, 
OHG. biqitdmi, MHG. beqiifeme, G. bequem, fit), 
< ge-, a generalizing prefix, + cumiin (pret. 
*cico/, com), come: see come, and cf. become 
and comely.] Pleasing; agreeable. 
Wherfore I beqwethe me to your qweme spouse, 
To lyue with in lykyng to my lyfes ende. 
Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. S.X 1. 633. 
quemet, ''. [ME. quemen, < AS. oweman, also 
geeioeiiHin, please, satisfy, propitiate, < r/ecweme, 
pleasing, becoming: sec qiieme, .] I. tnmx. 
To become ; suit ; fit ; satisfy ; please. 
4905 
That [virtue) is approperid into noo degree, 
But the flrste Kadir in magestee, 
Which may his hcires deeme hem that him queme, 
Al were he mytre, corone, or diademe. 
Chaucer, Uentleness, 1. 20. 
God seue us grace in oure lyuynge 
To serue oure (Jod. <fe Marie to qweeme. 
llilinns to Virgin, etc. (E. E. T. S.), p. K. 
Parys full pristly with preciouse araye 
Worshippit that worthy in wedys full riche, 
As quremet for a qwene <fc qwaintly atyret, 
That Priam hade purueit & to the place sent 
Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. S.), 1. 3404. 
Such merimake holy Saints doth queme. 
Spenser, Shep. Cal. , May. 
II, iii trims. To become; come to be. 
To qu'eme qwyt of all other, 
To skapu out of skathe and sklaunder to falle. 
Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. S.), 1. 1S09. 
quemfult, [ME., < queme + -ful.'} Becom- 
ing; fit. 
Now, sothely, na thyng bot a lathynge of all this werldis 
blysse, of all tteschely lykynges in thi herte, and a qwem- 
full lungynge with a thrlsty gernyng to heuenly joye. 
Hampole, Prose Treatises (E. E. T. S.), p. 33. 
Haile ! quentfull Queene, quaintly shape ! 
Moste of all Macedoine menskf ull Ladie ! 
Alisaunder of Macedoine (E. E. T. S.), 1. 582. 
quemlyt, adi>. [ME., < queme + -Zy 2 .] In a 
pleasing or fitting manner. 
The golde was all gotyn, & the grete sommes 
Of qwhete, & of qwhite syluer, qwemly to-gedur. 
Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. S.), 1. 117S3. 
quench (kwench), v. ; pret. and pp. quenched. 
formerly also queint. [< ME. quenchen (pret. 
quencte, queynte), < AS. cwencan (also, in comp., 
d-cweticaii), quench, put out, causal of "cwincait 
(pret. *cwanc), in comp. d-cicincan (= OFries. 
kwinka), go out, be extinguished; cf. "civilian 
(pret. *cwdn), in comp. d-cwiitan, go out, be ex- 
tinguished.] I. trans. 1. To extinguish or put 
out, as fire. 
Thy rage shall burn thee up, and thou shalt turn 
To ashes, ere our blood shall quench that fire. 
Shak., K. John, iii. 1. 345. 
The taper, quenched so soon, 
Had ended merely in a snuff, not stink. 
Browning, Ring and Book, I. 112. 
2. To extinguish or allay; stop ; put an end to, 
a thirst. 
The gentle deare returnd the selfe-same way, 
Thinking to quench her thirst at the next brooke. 
Spenser, Sonnets, Ixvii. 
In lavish streams to quench a country's thirst 
Pope, Moral Essays, iii. 175. 
3f. To relieve the thirst of. 
A bottle of ale, to quench me, rascal. 
B. Jonson, Bartholomew Fair, 11. 1. 
4. To suppress; stifle; check; repress; de- 
stroy: as, to quench a passion or emotion. 
The supposition of the lady's death 
Will quench the wonder of her infamy. 
Shak., Much Ado, iv. 1. 241. 
Parthians should, the next year, tame 
The proud Lucanians, and nigh quench their Name. 
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, i. 2. 
As I have much quenched my senses, and disused my 
body from pleasure, and so tried how I can endure to be 
my own grave, so I try now how I can suffer a prison. 
Donne, Letters, xxviii. 
5. To lay or place in water, as a heated iron. 
See temper. 
In quenching a tool of which one portion is thick and 
another thin, the thickest part should generally be the 
first to enter the water. 
C. P. B. Shelley, Workshop Appliances, p. 323. 
II. intrans. 1. To be extinguished ; go out. 
Right anon on of the fyres queynte, 
And quykede agayn, and after that anon 
That other fyr was queynt, and al agon. 
Chaucer, Knight's Tale, 1. 1476. 
Zif he be chosen to ben Prelate, and is not wovthi, is 
Lampe quenchethe anon. Mandeville, Travels, p. 60. 
That hand shall burn in never quenching fire. 
Shak., Rich. II., v. 6. 109. 
2. To lose zeal ; cool ; become cool. 
Dost thou think in time 
She will not quench? Shak., Cymbeliue, 1. 5. 47. 
quencht (kwench), n. [< quench, ;.] The act 
of quenching or extinguishing; also, the state 
of being extinguished. 
The same quench he hath cast 
Upon my life shall quite put out his fame. 
Chapman, Byron's Tragedy, v. 1. 
quenchable (kwen'cha-bl), a. [< quench + 
-able."] Capable of being quenched or extin- 
guished. 
quench-COalt (kweuch'kol), n. [< quench, r., 
+ obj. conl.1 Anything which quenches or 
extinguishes fire : applied figuratively to a cold, 
heartless professor of religion. 
quercitannic 
Zeal hath in this our earthly mould little fuel, much 
quench-coal ; is hardly fired, soon cooled. 
Rev. S. Ward, Sermons, p. 71. 
You are quench-coal; no sparkle of grace can kindle 
upon your cold hearth. D. Rogers. 
quencher (kweu'cher), . 1. One who or that 
which quenches or extinguishes. 
A eriever and quencher of the Spirit. 
Hammond, Works, IV. 514. 
You would-be quenchers of the light to be ! 
Tennyson, Princess, iv. 
2. That which quenches thirst ; a draught or 
drink. [Slang.] 
The modest quencher, . . . coming close upon the heels 
of the temperate beverage he had discussed at dinner, 
awakened a slight degree of fever. 
Dickens, Old Curiosity Shop, xxxv. 
At the bottom [of the hill], however, there is a pleasant 
public, whereat we must really take a modest quencher, 
for the down air is provocative of thirst 
T. Hughes, Tom Brown at Rugby, 1. 1. 
quench-firet (kwench'flr), . [< quench, v., + 
obj. fire.'] A machine for extinguishing fii-e ; a 
fire-extinguisher. 
I went to see Sir Sam. Morland's inventions and ma- 
chines, arithmetical wheeles, quench-jires, and new harp. 
Evelyn, Diary, July 10, 1667. 
quenching (kwen'ching), n. [Verbal n. of 
quench, v7\ 1. The act of extinguishing; also, 
the state of being extinguished. 
Some outward cause fate hath perhaps design'd, 
Which to the soul may utter quenching bring. 
SirJ. Davies, Immortal, of Soul, xxxi. 
2. In metal., a method of producing a hard 
crust on molten metal for convenience in re- 
moving it in small plates or disks, called some- 
times rosettes, instead of allowing it to solidify 
in one mass." See rosette. Quenching-tub, a ves- 
sel of water placed beside a blacksmith's forge for cooling 
or tempering the irons. 
quenchless (kwench'les). a. [< quench + -less.] 
That cannot be quenched or repressed ; inex- 
tinguishable: as, quenchless fire or fury. 
Come, bloody Clifford, rough Northumberland, 
I dare your quenchless fury to more rage. 
. Shak., 3 Hen. VI., 1. 4. 28. 
His hate 
Is quenchless as his wrongs. 
Shelley, Queen Mab, v. 
quenchlessly (kwench'les-li), adv. In a quench- 
less manner. 
quenchlessness (kwench'les-nes), H. The state 
of being quenchless or unquenchable. 
quenchuret, [ME., also quenchour; irreg. < 
quench + -wee.] The act of quenching. 
Whanne ge hanc do goure quenchour, putte alle the wa- 
tris togidere. Book of Quinte Essence (ed. Furnivall), p. 6. 
quenelle (ke-nel'), n. [P.] In cookery, a force- 
meat ball made of a rich and delicately seasoned 
paste of chicken, veal, or the like. Quenelles 
are usually served as entries. 
quenouille-training (ke-no'lye-tra'ning), n. 
[F. qitfnoitille = It. coimochia, < ML. conucula, 
colucula, a distaff, dim. of L. colus, a distaff.] 
In hort., a mode of training trees or shrubs in 
a conical form, with their branches bent down- 
ward, so that they resemble a distaff in shape. 
quenstedtite (kwen'stet-it), . [Named after 
F. A. Qiiensterlt (1809-89), a German geologist 
and mineralogist.] A hydrous sulphate of iron, 
occurring in tabular monoclinic crystals of a 
reddish-violet color: it is found in Chili. 
quentiset, " Same as quaintise. 
quequert, " A Middle English form of quiver 2 . 
quercetic (kwer-set'ik), a. [< quercet(in') + 
-Jc.] Produced from quercetin: as, quercetic 
acid. 
quercetine, . Same as quercitin. 
quercetum (kwer-se'tum), . [L., an oak-wood, 
< qiiercus, an oak: see Qucrcus.] A collection 
of living oaks, as in a botanical garden. The 
word is so applied in the Kew Gardens, London. 
quercine (kwer'sin), a. [< LL. quercinus, of 
the oak, of oak-leaves, < L. quereus, oak: see 
Of or pertaining to the oak or oak- 
trees. 
Quercinese (kwer-sin'e-e), ii.nl. [NL. (Dumor- 
tier, 1829), < L. qucrciiius, of the oak. + -ex.'] A 
tribe of dicotyledonous trees and shrubs of the 
apetalous order Ciipiiliferx, characterized by the 
usually three-celled ovary, lobed perianth, nu- 
merous stamens, and fruit a nut partly or whol- 
ly surrounded by an involucre or cupule. It con- 
tiiins 4 genera, including the oak, beech, and chestnut, 
for which see Quercun (the type), Fagus, Castanea, &nd Cos- 
tanopsix. The range of the whole tribe is included in that of 
the oak (see Quereus), except in the case of the beech, which 
extends into South America, Australia, and New Zealand. 
quercitannic (k\ver-si-tan'ik), . [< L. quereus, 
oak, + E. taMui'c.] Same as tetanic. 
