Advertisement
260 entries found
qi (n.)
"physical life force," 1850, from Chinese qi "air, breath."
Related entries & more 
Advertisement
qua 
"as, in the capacity of," from Latin qua "where? on which side? at which place? which way? in what direction?" figuratively "how? in what manner? by what method?; to what extent? in what degree?" correlative pronominal adverb of place, from PIE root *kwo-, stem of relative and interrogative pronouns.
Related entries & more 
Quaalude (n.)
1965, proprietary name (trademark by Wm. H. Rorer Inc., Ft. Washington, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.) of methaqualone.
Related entries & more 
quack (v.)
"to make a duck sound," 1610s, earlier quake (1520s), variant of quelke (early 14c.), of echoic origin (compare Middle Dutch quacken, Old Church Slavonic kvakati, Latin coaxare "to croak," Greek koax "the croaking of frogs," Hittite akuwakuwash "frog"). Middle English on the quakke (14c.) meant "hoarse, croaking." Related: Quacked; quacking.
Related entries & more 
quack (n.2)
duck sound, 1839, from quack (v.).
Related entries & more 
Advertisement
quack (n.1)
"medical charlatan," 1630s, short for quacksalver (1570s), from obsolete Dutch quacksalver (modern kwakzalver), literally "hawker of salve," from Middle Dutch quacken "to brag, boast," literally "to croak" (see quack (v.)) + salf "salve," salven "to rub with ointment" (see salve (v.)). As an adjective from 1650s. The oldest attested form of the word in this sense in English is as a verb, "to play the quack" (1620s). The Dutch word also is the source of German Quacksalber, Danish kvaksalver, Swedish kvacksalvare.
Related entries & more 
quacker (n.)
"a duck," 1846, agent noun from quack (v.).
Related entries & more 
quackery (n.)
1690s, from quack (n.) + -ery.
Related entries & more 
quacksalver (n.)
1570s; see quack (n.1).
Related entries & more 
quad 
1820 as a shortening of quadrangle (n.) in the building sense (in this case "quadrangle of a college," Oxford student slang); 1880 as short for quadrat (n.); 1896 as quadruplet (n.), originally "bicycle for four riders;" later "one of four young at a single birth" (1951, of armadillos); 1970 as quadraphonic (adj.). Related: Quads.
Related entries & more 

Page 2

Advertisement

Trending Words

© 2001-2020 Douglas Harper