question 
Of. Conversation; speech; talk. 
I met the duke yesterday, and bad much question with 
him. Shak., As you Like it, iii. 4. 3!. 
10. In logic, a proposition, or that which is to 
be established as a conclusion, stated by way 
of interrogation. 11. In parlia/ntnti/ri/ usage: 
(a) The point under discussion by the house; 
the measure to be voted on: as, to speak to 
the question, (b) The putting of the matter 
discussed to a vote : as, are you ready for the 
question? Comparative, complex, double, Eastern 
question. See the adjectives. Division of the ques- 
tion. See division. Horary question, in astral., a 
question the decision of which depends upon the figure 
of the heavens at the moment it is propounded. Hypo- 
thetical question. See hypothetical. la. questipn, 
under consideration or discussion : indicating something 
just mentioned or referred to. 
He is likewise a rival of mine that is, of my other 
self's, for he does not think his friend Captain Absolute 
ever saw the lady in question. Sheridan, The Kivals, ii. 1. 
Mr. Wall and his ally exert themselves to make up for 
the painful absence in question to their utmost power. 
W. M. Baker, New Timothy, p. 213. 
Leading question, a Question so put as to suggest the 
answer which is desired, and thus to lead to and prepare 
the way for such an answer. A party is not allowed to put 
a leading question to his own witness, except in matters 
purely introductory, and not touching a point in contro- 
versy; and except that if his witness is obviously hostile 
or defective in memory the court may in its discretion 
allow a leading question. A party may put leading ques- 
tions in cross-examining his adversary's witness Mixed 
questions. See mixed. Out Of question, doubtless; 
beyond question. 
Out of question, you were born in a merry hour. 
Shak., Much Ado, ii. 1. 348. 
Out Of the question, not worthy of or requiring consid- 
eration ; not to be thought of. 
It is out of the question to ask the Diet for money to 
clear off the enormous debts ; so that it is difficult to 
guess how the matter will end. 
Contemporary Rev., XLIX. 287. 
Previous question, in parliamentary practice, the ques- 
tion whether a vote shall be come to on the main issue or 
not, brought forward before the main or real question is 
put by the Speaker, and for the purpose of avoiding, if the 
vote is in the negative, the putting of this question. The 
motion is in the form, " that the question be now put," and 
the mover and seconder vote against it In the House of 
Representatives of the United Slates (it is not used in 
the Senate), and in many State legislatures, the object of 
moving the previous question is to cut off debate and se- 
cure immediately a vote on the question under considera- 
tion ; here, therefore, the mover and seconder vote in the 
affirmative. 
The great remedy against prolix or obstructive debate 
is the so-called precious question, which is moved in the 
form "Shall the main question be now put?" and when 
ordered closes forthwith all debate, and brings the House 
to a direct vote on that main question. 
J. Bryce, American Commonwealth, I. 130. 
Question of fact, question of law. See fact, 3. Ques- 
tion of order. See wrfer. Questioner privilege. See 
privilege. Real question. See rtal\ . The Questions, 
the Shorter Catechism of the Westminster Assembly of 
Divines. [Scotch.] To beg the question. See begi. 
To call in question, (a) To doubt ; challenge. 
You call in question the continuance of his love. 
Shak., T. N., i. 4. 6. 
(&) To subject to judicial interrogation. 
Touching the resurrection of the dead I am called in 
question by you this day. Acts xxiv. 21. 
The governour wrote to some of the assistants about it. 
and, upon advice with the ministers, it was agreed to call 
. . . them [the offenders] in question. 
Winthrop, Hist. New England, I. 172. 
To pop the question. Seepopi. =Syn. 2. Question,Query, 
Inquiry, Interrogation, and Interrogatory agree in express- 
ing a form of words used in calling for information or an 
answer from another. Question is the most general in its 
meaning, and inquiry stands next. Query stands for a 
question asked without force, a point about which one 
would like to be informed : the word is used with all de- 
grees of weakness down to the mere expression of a doubt: 
as, I raised a query as to the strength of the bridge. A 
question may be put in order to test another's knowledge ; 
the other words express an asking for real information. 
Interrogatory is a strong word, expressing an authoritative 
or searching question that must be explicitly answered, 
sometimes in law a written question. Inquiry is some- 
what milder and less direct than question, the order of 
strength being query, inquiry, question, interrogation. 
There is no perceptible difference between interrogation 
and interrogatory, except that the former may express 
also the act. See a*H and examination. 4 and B. Propo- 
sition, motion, topic, point. 
question (kwes'chon), v. [< OF. questionner, 
< ML. queestionare, question, < L. quxstio(n-), 
question: see question, n.] I. intrans. 1. To 
ask a question or questions ; inquire or seek to 
know; examine. 
He that queitioneth much shall learn much. 
Bacon, Discourse. 
And mute, yet seeni'd to question with their Eyes. 
Congreee, Iliad. 
2. To debate ; reason ; consider. 
Nor dare I question with my jealous thought 
Where you may be. Shak., Sonnets, Ivii. 
3. To dispute; doubt. 4f. To talk; converse. 
For, after supper, long he questioned 
With modest Lucrece. Shak., Lucrece, 1. 122. 
4908 
I haue heard him oft quention with ( 'aptaine Martin and 
tell him, except he could shew him a more substantiall 
triall, he was not inamoured witli their durty skill. 
Quoted in Capt, John Smith's Works, I. 169. 
II. trans. 1. To inquire of by asking ques- 
tions; examine by interrogatories : as, to ques- 
tion :i witness. 
Her father loved me ; oft invited me ; 
Still question'd me the story of my life. 
Shak., Othello, i. 3. 129. 
They questioned him apart, as the custom is, 
When first the matter made a noise at Rome. 
Browning, Ring and Book, I. 127. 
2. To doubt of ; be uncertain of ; mention or 
treat as doubtful or not to be trusted. 
It is much to be questioned whether they could ever spin 
it [asbestos] to a thread. 
Pocockf, Description of the East, II. i. 229. 
There is no possibility to disprove a matter of fact that 
was never questioned or doubted of before. 
Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1835), II. 167. 
Nor question 
The wisdom that hath made us what we are. 
LoweU, Under the Willows. 
3. To call in question ; challenge; take excep- 
tion to : as, to question an exercise of preroga- 
tive. 
What uproar 's this? must my name here be quettion'd 
In tavern-brawls, and by affected ruffians? 
Beau, and Ft., Honest Man's Fortune, ii. 2. 
Power and right 
To question thy bold entrance on this place. 
Milton, P. L., iv. 882. 
Whatever may be questioned, it is certain that we are in 
the presence of an Infinite and Eternal Being. 
./. K. Seelty, Nat. Religion, p. 44. 
= Syn. 1. Ask, Inquire of, Interrogate, etc. (see atkl), 
catechize. 3. To controvert, dispute, 
questionable (kwes'chou-a-bl), a. [= Sp. cues- 
tionable = Pg. questionavel = It. questionable; 
as question + -able.] 1 . Capable of being ques- 
tioned or inquired of ; inviting or seeming to 
invite inquiry or conversation. [Now rare.] 
Thou comest in such a questionable shape 
That I will speak to thee. Shak., Hamlet, i. 4. 43. 
2. Liable to question; suspicious; doubtful; 
uncertain ; disputable : as, the deed is of ques- 
tionable authority; his veracity is questionable. 
It being questionable whether he [Galen] ever saw the 
dissection of a human body. 
Baker, Reflections upon Learning, xv. 
The facts respecting him [Governor Van Twillcr] were 
so scattered and vague, and divers of them so questionable 
in point of authenticity, that I have had to give up the 
search. Irving, Knickerbocker, p. 151. 
questionableness(kwes'chon-a-bl-nes), w. The 
character or state of being questionable, doubt- 
ful, or suspicious. 
questionably (kwes'chon-a-bli), adv. In a 
questionable manner ; doubtfully. 
questionary (kwes'chpn-a-ri), o. and n. [= F. 
questionnaire = Sp. cuesfioiutrio = Pg. questio- 
nario,(. LL. queestiotuirius, prop, adj., of or per- 
taining to question, but used only as a noun, 
LL. a torturer, executioner, ML. also an ex- 
aminer, a judge, also a solicitor of alms, a 
beggar, < L. quxslio(n-), question, inquiry: see 
question.] I. a. Inquiring; asking questions. 
I grow laconick even beyond laconicisme; for sometimes 
I return only Yes or No to questionary or petitionary 
epistles of hall a yard long. Pope, To Swift, Aug. 17, 1736. 
II. n.; pi. questionaries (-riz). A pardoner; 
an itinerant seller of indulgences or relics. 
One of the principal personages in the comic part of the 
drama was ... a qujrxtionary or pardoner, one of those 
itinerants who hawked about from place to place reliques, 
real or pretended, with which he excited the devotion at 
once and the charity of the populace, and generally de- 
ceived both the one and the other. Scott, Abbot, .\\vii. 
questioner (kwes'chon-er), n. [< question + 
-er 1 .] One who asks questions ; an inquirer. 
He that labours for the sparrow-hawk 
Has little time for idle questioners. 
Tennyson, Geraint. 
questioning (kwes'chon-ing), . [Verbal n. of 
question, v.] 1. The act of interrogating; a 
query. 2. Doubt; suspicion. 
Those obstinate questionings 
Of sense and outward things. 
Wordsworth, Ode, Immortality, st. 9. 
questioningly (kwes'chon-ing-li), adv. Inter- 
rogatively; as one who questions. 
questionist (kwes'chon-ist), n. [< question + 
-ist.] 1. One who asks questions; a questioner; 
an inquirer; an investigator; a doubter. 
He was not so much a qitestionist, but wrought upon the 
other's questions, and, like a counsellor, wished him to 
discharge his conscience, and to satisfy the world. 
Bacon, Charge against Wentworth, Works, XII. 221. 
2. In old universities, the respondent in the 
determinations; hence still at Cambridge, a 
questus 
student of three years, who is consequently 
qualified to be a candidate for a 
Yea, I know that heades were cast together, and coun- 
sell dcuised, that Duns, with all the rable of barbarous 
quest-ionisteK, should haue dispossessed of their place and 
rowmes Aristotle, Plato, Tullie, and Demosthenes. 
Ascham, The Scholemaster (Arber's reprint, p. 130). 
The papers set on the Monday and Tuesday of the week 
following contain only about one low question a-piece, to 
amuse the mass of the Questionists during the half-hour 
before the expiration of which they are not allowed to 
leave the Senate House. 
C. A. Bristed, English University, p. 291. 
questionless (kwes'chon-les), a. and adv. [< 
question + -less.] I. a. Unquestioning. 
With the same clear mind and questionless faith. 
L. Wallace, Ben-Hur, p. 498. 
II. adf. Without questiom; beyond doubt; 
doubtless; certainly. [An elliptical use of the 
adjective, standing for the phrase "it is ques- 
tionless that."] 
1 have a mind presages me such thrift 
Thai I should questionless be fortunate ! 
Shak., M. of V., i. 1. 176. 
She 's abus'd, questionless, 
Middleton and Hou'ley, Changeling, Iv. 2. 
What it [Episcopacy) was in the Apostles time, that 
questionlesse it must he still. 
MUton, Reformation in Eng., ii. 
questmant (kwest'man), . [< quest 1 + man.] 
1. One having power to make legal inquiry. 
Specifically, in old law : (a) A person chosen to inquire 
into abuses and misdemeanors, especially such as relate 
to weights and measures, (b) A collector of parish rates, 
(c) An assistant to a churchwarden. Also called sidesman 
and synod-man, (d) A juryman; a person impaneled to 
try a cause. Also quetftryman. 
2. One who laid informations and made a trade 
of petty lawsuits ; a common informer. 
questmongert (kwest'mung'ger), n. [< quest 1 
+ moiiyer.] A juryman. 
questor, quaestor (kwes'tor), . [= F. questeur 
= Sp. cuestor = Pg. questor = It. questore, < 
L. qu&stor, a magistrate having special juris- 
diction in financial matters (see def.), < qux- 
rere, pp. qusesitns, seek, procure: see quest 1 .] 
1. In ancient Home, a member of one of 
two distinct classes of magistrates: (a) One of 
two public accusers (quxstores parricidii) whose duty 
it was to lay accusations against those guilty of murder 
or other capital offense, and to see to the execution of 
the sentence. This magistracy was in existence at the 
earliest historic time, but became obsolete about 366 
B. c., its functions being transferred to other officers. 
(b) One of the officers (quaxtores classici) having the 
care and administration of the public funds ; a pub- 
lic treasurer. It was their duty to receive, pay out, and 
record the public finances, including the collection of 
taxes, tribute, etc. Questors accompanied the provin- 
cial governors, proconsuls, or pretors, and received every- 
where the public dues and imports, paid the troops, etc. 
After Julius Ciesar, some of their functions were given to 
the pretors and some to the ediles. The number of ques- 
tors was originally two, but was gradually increased to 
twenty. Under Constantine the quxstor sacri palatii was 
an imperial minister of much power and importance. 
2. In the middle ages, one appointed by the 
Pope or by a Roman Catholic bishop to an- 
nounce the granting of indulgences, of which 
the special condition was the giving of alms to 
the church. 3. A treasurer; one charged with 
the collection and care of dues. 
questorship, quaestorship (kwes'tor-ship), n. 
[< questor + -ship.] The office of a questor, or 
the term of a questor's office. 
He whom an honest qutestorship has indear'd to the 
Sicilians. Hilton, Areopagitica. 
questristt (kwes'trist), . [Irreg. < quester + 
-ist.] A person who goes in quest of another. 
[Rare.] 
Some five or six and thirty of his knights, 
Hot questrists after him, met him at gate. 
Shak., Lear, iii. 7. 17. 
questrymant, n. Same as questman. 
Then other questry-inen was call'd ; . . . 
Twelve of them spoke all in a breast, 
Sir Hugh in the Grime, thou'st now guilty. 
Sir Huijhofthe Grime (Child's Ballads, VI. 249). 
questuaryt (kwes'tu-a-ri), a. and n. [= OF. 
questuaire, < L. queestuarius, pertaining to gain 
or money -getting, < quaestus, gain, acquisition, 
< qitxrerc.pp. quiestus, seek, get, obtain: see 
quest 1 .] I, a. Studious of gain ; seeking gain ; 
also, producing gain. 
Although lapidaries and questuary enquirers affirm it, 
yet the writers of minerals . . . are of another belief, con- 
ceiving the stones which bear this name [toad stone] to be 
a mineral concretion, not to be found in animals. 
Sir T. Browne, Vulg. Err., iii. 13. 
Some study questuary and gainful arts, and every one 
would thrive in 's calling. Aliddlelon, Family of Love, v. 1. 
II. M. A pardoner; a questionary. Jer. Tay- 
lor, Dissuasive from Popery, i. 3. 
questus (kwes'tus), w. [< L. queestus. gain, pro- 
fit, < quterere, seek, obtain : see quest 1 .] In ///. 
