The Gutenberg Webster's Unabridged Dictionary
Chapter 1244
Py*thon"ic (?) , a. [L. pythonicus , Gr. <?/. See Pythian .] Prophetic; oracular; pretending to foretell events.
Pythonism <Xpage=1170>
Pyth"o*nism (?) , n. The art of predicting events after the manner of the priestess of Apollo at Delphi; equivocal prophesying.
Pythonist <Xpage=1170>
Pyth"o*nist (?) , n. A conjurer; a diviner.
Pythonomorpha <Xpage=1170>
Pyth`o*no*mor"pha (?) , n. pl. [NL. See Python , and -morphous .] (Paleon.) Same as Mosasauria .
Pyuria <Xpage=1170>
Py*u"ri*a (?) , n. [NL., fr. Gr. <?/ pus + <?/ urine.] (Med.) A morbid condition in which pus is discharged in the urine.
Pyx <Xpage=1170>
Pyx (?) , )</fl n. [L. pyxis a box, Gr. <?/ a box, especially of boxwood, fr. <?/ the box tree or boxwood. See Box a receptacle.] [Written also pix .] 1. ( R. C. Ch.) The box, case, vase, or tabernacle, in which the host is reserved.
2. A box used in the British mint as a place of deposit for certain sample coins taken for a trial of the weight and fineness of metal before it is sent from the mint.
Mushet.
3. (Naut.) The box in which the compass is suspended; the binnacle. Weale .
4. (Anat.) Same as Pyxis .
Pyx cloth (R. C. Ch.d>, a veil of silk or lace covering the pyx. Trial of the pyx , the annual testing, in the English mint, of the standard of gold and silver coins.
Encyc. Brit.
Pyx <Xpage=1170>
Pyx , v. t. To test as to weight and fineness, as the coins deposited in the pyx. [Eng.]
Mushet.
Pyxidate <Xpage=1170>
Pyx"i*date (?) , a. Having a pyxidium.
Pyxidium <Xpage=1170>
Pyx*id"i*um (?) , n. ; pl. Pyxidia (#) . [NL., fr. Gr. <?/, dim. a <?/ a box. See Pyx .] (Bot.) (a) A pod which divides circularly into an upper and lower half, of which the former acts as a kind of lid, as in the pimpernel and purslane. (b) The theca of mosses.
Pyxle <Xpage=1170>
Pyx"le (?) , n. (Bot.) Same as Pixy .
Pyxis <Xpage=1170>
Pyx*is (?) , n. [L.] 1. A box; a pyx.
2. (Bot.) A pyxidium.
3. (Anat.) The acetabulum. See Acetabulum , 2 .
<page="1171"> Page 1171
Q.
Q <Xpage=1171>
Q (?) , the seventeenth letter of the English alphabet, has but one sound (that of k ), and is always followed by u , the two letters together being sounded like kw , except in some words in which the u is silent. See Guide to Pronunciation , § 249. Q is not found in Anglo-Saxon, cw being used instead of qu ; as in cwic , quick; cwen , queen. The name (k&umac;) is from the French ku , which is from the Latin name of the same letter; its form is from the Latin, which derived it, through a Greek alphabet, from the Ph&oe;nician, the ultimate origin being Egyptian.
Etymologically, q or qu is most nearly related to a ( ch , tch ), p , q , and wh ; as in cud, quid , L. equ us, e c us, horse, Gr. <?/, whence E. equ ine, hi pp ic; L. qu od which, E. wh at; L. a qu ila, E. ea q le; E. ki tch en, OE. ki che ne, AS. cycene, L. co qu ina.
Qua <Xpage=1171>
Qua (?) , conj. [L., abl. of qui who.] In so far as; in the capacity or character of; as.
It is with Shelley's biographers qua biographers that we have to deal. London Spectator.
Quab <Xpage=1171>
Quab (?) , n. [Cf. D. kwab eelpout, Dan. quabbe , G. quabbe , quappe , LG. quabbe a fat lump of flesh, and L. capito a kind of fish with a large head, fr. caput the head, also E. squab .] An unfledged bird; hence, something immature or unfinished.
Ford.
Quab <Xpage=1171>
Quab , v. i. See Quob , v. i.
Qua-bird <Xpage=1171>
Qua"-bird` (?) , n. (Zo\'94l.) The American night heron. See under Night .
Quacha <Xpage=1171>
Qua"cha (?) , n. (Zo\'94l.) The quagga.
Quack <Xpage=1171>
Quack (?) , v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Qvacked (?) ; p. pr. & vb. n. Quacking .] [Of imitative origin; cf. D. kwaken , G. quacken , quaken , Icel. kvaka to twitter.]
1. To utter a sound like the cry of a duck.
2. To make vain and loud pretensions; to boast. " To quack of universal cures."
Hudibras.
3. To act the part of a quack, or pretender.
Quack <Xpage=1171>
Quack , n. 1. The cry of the duck, or a sound in imitation of it; a hoarse, quacking noise.
Chaucer.
2. [Cf. Quacksalver .] A boastful pretender to medical skill; an empiric; an ignorant practitioner.
3. Hence, one who boastfully pretends to skill or knowledge of any kind not possessed; a charlatan.
Quacks political; quacks scientific, academical. Carlyle.
Quack <Xpage=1171>
Quack , a. Pertaining to or characterized by, boasting and pretension; used by quacks; pretending to cure diseases; as, a quack medicine; a quack doctor.
Quackery <Xpage=1171>
Quack"er*y (?) , n. ; pl. Quackeries (<?/) . The acts, arts, or boastful pretensions of a quack; false pretensions to any art; empiricism.
Carlyle.
Quack grass <Xpage=1171>
Quack" grass` (?) . (Bot.) See Quitch grass .
Quackish <Xpage=1171>
Quack"ish , a. Like a quack; boasting; characterized by quackery.
Burke.
Quackism <Xpage=1171>
Quack"ism (?) , n. Quackery.
Carlyle.
Quackle <Xpage=1171>
Quac"kle (?) , v. i. & t. [ imp. & p. p. Quackled (?) ; p. pr. & vb. n. Quackling (?) .] [Cf. Querken .] To suffocate; to choke. [Prov. Eng.]
Quacksalver <Xpage=1171>
Quack"sal*ver (?) , n. [D. kwakzalver ; cf. kwakzalven to quack or boast of one's salves. See Quack , Salve , n. ] One who boasts of his skill in medicines and salves, or of the efficacy of his prescriptions; a charlatan; a quack; a mountebank. [Obs.]
Burton.
Quad, Quade <Xpage=1171>
Quad (?) , Quade (?) , a. [Akin to AS. cw&aemac;d , cwead , dung, evil, G. kot , dung, OHG. qu\'bet .] Evil; bad; baffling; as, a quade wind . [Obs.]
Sooth play, quad play, as the Fleming saith. Chaucer.
Quad <Xpage=1171>
Quad , n. (Print.) A quadrat.
Quad <Xpage=1171>
Quad , n. (Arch.) A quadrangle; hence, a prison. [Cant or Slang]
Quadra <Xpage=1171>
Quad"ra (?) , n. ; pl. Quadr\'91 (#) . [L., a square, the socle, a platband, a fillet.] (Arch.) (a) The plinth, or lowest member, of any pedestal, podium, water table, or the like. (b) A fillet, or listel.
Quadrable <Xpage=1171>
Quad"ra*ble (?) , a. [See Quadrate .] (Math.) That may be sqyared, or reduced to an equivalent square; -- said of a surface when the area limited by a curve can be exactly found, and expressed in a finite number of algebraic terms.
Quadragenarious <Xpage=1171>
Quad`ra*ge*na"ri*ous (?) , a. [L. quadragenarius , fr. qyadrageni forty each.] Consisting of forty; forty years old.
Quadragene <Xpage=1171>
Quad"ra*gene (?) , n. [LL. quadragena , fr. L. quadrageni forty each, akin to quadraginta forty.] (R. C. Ch.) An indulgence of forty days, corresponding to the forty days of ancient canonical penance.
Quadragesima <Xpage=1171>
Quad`ra*ges"i*ma (?) , n. [L., fr. quadragesimus the fortieth, fr. quadraginta forty; akin to quattuor four. See Four .] (Eccl.) The forty days of fast preceding Easter; Lent.
Quadragesima Sunday , the first Sunday in Lent, about forty days before Easter.
Quadragesimal <Xpage=1171>
Quad`ra*ges"i*mal (?) , a. [Cf. F. quadrag\'82simal .] Belonging to Lent; used in Lent; Lenten.
Quadragesimals <Xpage=1171>
Quad`ra*ges"i*mals (?) , n. pl. Offerings formerly made to the mother church of a diocese on Mid-Lent Sunday.
Quadrangle <Xpage=1171>
Quad"ran`gle (?) , n. [F., fr. L. quadrangulum ; quattuor four + angulus an angle. See Four , and Angle a corner.]
1. (Geom.) A plane figure having four angles, and consequently four sides; any figure having four angles.
2. A square or quadrangular space or inclosure, such a space or court surrounded by buildings, esp. such a court in a college or public school in England.
Quadrangular <Xpage=1171>
Quad*ran"gu*lar (?) , a. [Cf. F. quadrangulaire .] Having four angles, and consequently four sides; tetragonal. -- Quad*ran"gu*lar*ly , adv.
Quadrans <Xpage=1171>
Quad"rans (?) , n. ; pl. Quadrantes (#) . [L.] 1. (Rom. Antiq.) A fourth part of the coin called an as. See 3d As, 2.
2. The fourth of a penny; a farthing. See Cur .
Quadrant <Xpage=1171>
Quad"rant (?) , n. [L. quadrans , -antis , a fourth part, a fourth of a whole, fr. quattuor four: cf. F. quadrant , cadran . See Four , and cf. Cadrans .] 1. The fourth part; the quarter. [Obs.]
Sir T. Browne.
2. (Geom.) The quarter of a circle, or of the circumference of a circle, an arc of 90°, or one subtending a right angle at the center.
3. (Anal. (Geom.) One of the four parts into which a plane is divided by the co\'94rdinate axes. The upper right-hand part is the first quadrant ; the upper left-hand part the second ; the lower left-hand part the third ; and the lower right-hand part the fourth quadrant .
4. An instrument for measuring altitudes, variously constructed and mounted for different specific uses in astronomy, surveying, gunnery, etc., consisting commonly of a graduated arc of 90°, with an index or vernier, and either plain or telescopic sights, and usually having a plumb line or spirit level for fixing the vertical or horizontal direction.
Gunner's quadrant , an instrument consisting of a graduated limb, with a plumb line or spirit level, and an arm by which it is applied to a cannon or mortar in adjusting it to the elevation required for attaining the desired range. -- Gunter's quadrant . See Gunter's quadrant , in the Vocabulary. Hadley's quadrant , a hand instrument used chiefly at sea to measure the altitude of the sun or other celestial body in ascertaining the vessel's position. It consists of a frame in the form of an octant having a graduated scale upon its arc, and an index arm, or alidade pivoted at its apex. Mirrors, called the index glass and the horizon glass, are fixed one upon the index arm and the other upon one side of the frame, respectively. When the instrument is held upright, the index arm may be swung so that the index glass will reflect an image of the sun upon the horizon glass, and when the reflected image of the sun coincides, to the observer's eye, with the horizon as seen directly through an opening at the side of the horizon glass, the index shows the sun's altitude upon the scale; -- more properly, but less commonly, called an octant . -- Quadrant of altitude , an appendage of the artificial globe, consisting of a slip of brass of the length of a quadrant of one of the great circles of the globe, and graduated. It may be fitted to the meridian, and being movable round to all points of the horizon, serves as a scale in measuring altitudes, azimuths, etc.
Quadrantal <Xpage=1171>
Quad*ran"tal (?) , a. [L. quadrantalis containing the fourth fourth part of a measure.] (Geom.) Of or pertaining to a quadrant; also, included in the fourth part of a circle; as, quadrantal space .
Quadrantal triangle , a spherical triangle having one side equal to a quadrant or arc of 90°. -- Quadrantal versor , a versor that expresses rotation through one right angle.
Quadrantal <Xpage=1171>
Quad*ran"tal , n. [L.] 1. (Rom. Antiq.) A cubical vessel containing a Roman cubic foot, each side being a Roman square foot; -- used as a measure.
2. A cube. [R.]
Quadrat <Xpage=1171>
Quad"rat (?) , n. [F. quadrat , cadrat . See Quadrate .] 1. (Print.) A block of type metal lower than the letters, -- used in spacing and in blank lines. [Abbrev. quad. ]
2. An old instrument used for taking altitudes; -- called also geometrical square , and line of shadows .
Quadrate <Xpage=1171>
Quad"rate (?) , a. [L. quadratus squared, p. p. of quadrare to make four-cornered, to make square, to square, to fit, suit, from quadrus square, quattuor four. See Quadrant , and cf. Quadrat , Quarry an arrow, Square .] 1. Having four equal sides, the opposite sides parallel, and four right angles; square.
Figures, some round, some triangle, some quadrate . Foxe.
2. Produced by multiplying a number by itself; square. " Quadrate and cubical numbers."
Sir T. Browne.
3. Square; even; balanced; equal; exact. [Archaic] " A quadrate , solid, wise man."
Howell.
4. Squared; suited; correspondent. [Archaic] " A generical description quadrate to both."
Harvey.
Quadrate bone (Anat.) , a bone between the base of the lower jaw and the skull in most vertebrates below the mammals. In reptiles and birds it articulates the lower jaw with the skull; in mammals it is represented by the malleus or incus.
Quadrate <Xpage=1171>
Quad"rate (?) , n. [L. quadratum . See Quadrate , a. ] 1. (Geom.) A plane surface with four equal sides and four right angles; a square; hence, figuratively, anything having the outline of a square.
At which command, the powers militant That stood for heaven, in mighty quadrate joined. Milton.
2. (Astrol.) An aspect of the heavenly bodies in which they are distant from each other 90°, or the quarter of a circle; quartile. See the Note under Aspect , 6.
3. (Anat.) The quadrate bone.
Quadrate <Xpage=1171>
Quad"rate (?) , v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Quadrated (?) ; p. pr. & vb. n. Quadrating .] [See Quadrate , a. ] To square; to agree; to suit; to correspond; -- followed by with . [Archaic]
The objections of these speculatists of its forms do not quadrate with their theories. Burke.
Quadrate <Xpage=1171>
Quad"rate , v. t. To adjust (a gun) on its carriage; also, to train (a gun) for horizontal firing.
Quadratic <Xpage=1171>
Quad*rat"ic (?) , a. [Cf. F. quadratique .]
1. Of or pertaining to a square, or to squares; resembling a quadrate, or square; square.
2. (Crystallog.) Tetragonal.
3. (Alg.) Pertaining to terms of the second degree; as, a quadratic equation, in which the highest power of the unknown quantity is a square .
Quadratics <Xpage=1171>
Quad*rat"ics (?) , n. (Alg.) That branch of algebra which treats of quadratic equations.
Quadratojugal <Xpage=1171>
Quad*ra`to*ju"gal (?) , a. (Anat.) (a) Of or pertaining to the quadrate and jugal bones . (b) Of or pertaining to the quadratojugal bone. -- n. The quadratojugal bone.
Quadratojugal bone (Anat.) , a bone at the base of the lower jaw in many animals.
Quadratrix <Xpage=1171>
Quad*ra"trix (?) , n. ; pl. -trixes (#) , or -trices (#) . [NL.] (Geom.) A curve made use of in the quadrature of other curves; as the quadratrix , of Dinostratus, or of Tschirnhausen .
Quadrature <Xpage=1171>
Quad"ra*ture (?) , n. [L. quadratura : cf. F. quadrature . See Quadrate , a. ] 1. (Math.) The act of squaring; the finding of a square having the same area as some given curvilinear figure; as, the quadrature of a circle ; the operation of finding an expression for the area of a figure bounded wholly or in part by a curved line, as by a curve, two ordinates, and the axis of abscissas.
2. A quadrate; a square.
Milton.
3. (Integral Calculus) The integral used in obtaining the area bounded by a curve; hence, the definite integral of the product of any function of one variable into the differential of that variable.
4. (Astron.) The position of one heavenly body in respect to another when distant from it 90°, or a quarter of a circle, as the moon when at an equal distance from the points of conjunction and opposition.
Quadrature of the moon (Astron.) , the position of the moon when one half of the disk is illuminated. -- Quadrature of an orbit (Astron.) , a point in an orbit which is at either extremity of the latus rectum drawn through the empty focus of the orbit.
Quadrel <Xpage=1171>
Quad"rel (?) , n. [It. quadrello , LL. quadrellus , fr. L. quadrus square. See Quadrate , and cf. Quarrel an arrow.] 1. A square piece of turf or peat. [Prov. Eng.]
2. A square brick, tile, or the like.
Quadrennial <Xpage=1171>
Quad*ren"ni*al (?) , a. [L. quadriennium a space of four years; quattuor four + annus year; cf. L. quadriennis . See Quadrate , and Annual .] 1. Comprising four years; as, a quadrennial period .
2. Occurring once in four years, or at the end of every four years; as, quadrennial games .
Quadrennially <Xpage=1171>
Quad*ren"ni*al*ly , adv. Once in four years.
Quadrennium <Xpage=1171>
Quad*ren"ni*um (?) , n. [NL. See Quadrennial .] A space or period of four years.
Quadri- <Xpage=1171>
Quad"ri- (?) . [L., from quattuor four. See Four .] A combining form meaning four , four times , fourfold ; as, quadri capsular, having four capsules .
Quadribasic <Xpage=1171>
Quad`ri*ba"sic (?) , a. [ Quadri- + basic .] (Chem.) Same as Tetrabasic .
Quadrible <Xpage=1171>
Quad"ri*ble (?) , a. Quadrable. [R.]
Quadric <Xpage=1171>
Quad"ric (?) , a. (Math.) Of or pertaining to the second degree.
Quadric <Xpage=1171>
Quad"ric , n. (a) (Alg.) A quantic of the second degree. See Quantic . (b) (Geom.) A surface whose equation in three variables is of the second degree. Spheres, spheroids, ellipsoids, paraboloids, hyperboloids, also cones and cylinders with circular bases, are quadrics.
Quadricapsular <Xpage=1171>