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Quirk

A sudden turn; a starting from the point or line; hence, an artful evasion or subterfuge; a shift; a quibble; as, the quirks of a pettifogger.

Quirked

Having, or formed with, a quirk or quirks.

Quirkish

Consisting of quirks; resembling a quirk.

Quirky

Full of quirks; tricky; as, a quirky lawyer.

Quirt

A rawhide whip plaited with two thongs of buffalo hide.

Quit

To go away; to depart; to stop doing a thing; to cease.

Quitclaim

To release or relinquish a claim to; to release a claim to by deed, without covenants of warranty against adverse and paramount titles.

Quitrent

A rent reserved in grants of land, by the payment of which the tenant is quit from other service.

Quits

See the Note under Quit, a.

Quittal

Return; requital; quittance.

Quittor

A chronic abscess, or fistula of the coronet, in a horse's foot, resulting from inflammation of the tissues investing the coffin bone.

Quiver

A case or sheath for arrows to be carried on the person.

Quivered

Furnished with, or carrying, a quiver.

Quixotic

Like Don Quixote; romantic to extravagance; prone to pursue unrealizable goals; absurdly chivalric; apt to be deluded. See also quixotism.

Quixotism

That form of delusion which leads to extravagant and absurd undertakings or sacrifices in obedience to a morbidly romantic ideal of duty or honor, as illustrated by the exploits of Don Quixote in knight-errantry. See quixotic.

Quiz

To conduct a quiz. See Quiz, n., 4.

Quizzical

Relating to quizzing; given to quizzing; of the nature of a quiz; farcical; sportive.

Quob

To throb; to quiver.

Quod

To put in quod, or prison; to lock up; to jug.

Quoddies

Herring taken and cured or smoked near Quoddy Head, Maine, or near the entrance of Passamaquoddy Bay.

Quodlibetical

Not restricted to a particular subject; discussed for curiosity or entertainment.

Quoin

Originally, a solid exterior angle, as of a building; now, commonly, one of the selected pieces of material by which the corner is marked.

Quoll

A marsupial of Australia (Dasyurus macrurus), about the size of a cat.

Quondam

A person dismissed or ejected from a position.

Quorum

Such a number of the officers or members of any body as is competent by law or constitution to transact business; as, a quorum of the House of Representatives; a constitutional quorum was not present.

Quota

A proportional part or share; the share or proportion assigned to each in a division.

Quotable

Capable or worthy of being quoted; as, a quotable writer; a quotable sentence.

Quotationist

One who makes, or is given to making, quotations.

Quote

A note upon an author.

Quoter

One who quotes the words of another.

Quoth

Said; spoke; uttered; -- used only in the first and third persons in the past tenses, and always followed by its nominative, the word or words said being the object; as, quoth I, quoth he.

Quotidian

Anything returning daily; especially (Med.), an intermittent fever or ague which returns every day.

Quotiety

The relation of an object to number.

Quotum

Part or proportion; quota.

R

Research and development; used mostly to refer to the division of a corporation responsible for performing research and developing new products, or the activitie performed by that division; -- a commonly used abbreviation.

R and D

research and development; -- used mostly to refer to the division of a corporation responsible for performing research and developing new products; -- a commonly used abbreviation.

Ra

A roe; a deer.

Raash

The electric catfish.

Rab

A rod or stick used by masons in mixing hair with mortar.

Rabat

A clerical linen collar. A kind of clerical scarf fitted to a collar; as, a black silk rabat.

Rabate

To recover to the fist, as a hawk.

Rabato

A kind of ruff for the neck; a turned-down collar; a rebato.

Rabbate

To abate or diminish. Abatement.

Rabbet

To cut a rabbet in; to furnish with a rabbet.

Rabbi

Master; lord; teacher; -- a Jewish title of respect or honor for a teacher or doctor of the law.

Rabbinic

The language or dialect of the rabbins; the later Hebrew.

Rabbinical Rabbinic

Of or pertaining to the rabbins or rabbis, or pertaining to the opinions, learning, or language of the rabbins.

Rabbinically

In a rabbinical manner; after the manner of the rabbins.

Rabbinism

A rabbinic expression or phraseology; a peculiarity of the language of the rabbins.

Rabbinist

One among the Jews who adhered to the Talmud and the traditions of the rabbins, in opposition to the Karaites, who rejected the traditions.

Rabbit

Any of the smaller species of the genus Lepus, especially the common European species (Lepus cuniculus), which is often kept as a pet, and has been introduced into many countries. It is remarkably prolific, and has become a pest in some parts of Australia and New Zealand.

Rabbitry

A place where rabbits are kept; especially, a collection of hutches for tame rabbits.

Rabble

To insult, or assault, by a mob; to mob; as, to rabble a curate.

Rabble-rout

A tumultuous crowd; a rabble; a noisy throng.

Rabblement

A tumultuous crowd of low people; a rabble.

Rabbler

A scraping tool for smoothing metal.

Rabdology

The method or art of performing arithmetical operations by means of Napier's bones. See Napier's bones.

Rabid

Furious; raging; extremely violent.

Rabidly

In a rabid manner; with extreme violence.

Rabidness

The quality or state of being rabid.

Rabies

Same as Hydrophobia (b); canine madness.

Rabinet

A kind of small ordnance formerly in use.

Rabot

A rubber of hard wood used in smoothing marble to be polished.

Raca

A term of reproach used by the Jews of our Savior's time, meaning /worthless./

Racahout

A preparation from acorns used by the Arabs as a substitute for chocolate, and also as a beverage for invalids.

Raccoon

A North American nocturnal carnivore (Procyon lotor) allied to the bears, but much smaller, and having a long, full tail, banded with black and gray. Its body is gray, varied with black and white. Called also coon, and mapach.

Race

To cause to contend in a race; to drive at high speed; as, to race horses.

Raceabout

A small sloop-rigged racing yacht carrying about six hundred square feet of sail, distinguished from a knockabout by having a short bowsprit.

Raceme

A flower cluster with an elongated axis and many one-flowered lateral pedicels, as in the currant and chokecherry.

Racemed

Arranged in a raceme, or in racemes.

Racemic

Pertaining to, or designating, an acid found in many kinds of grapes. It is also obtained from tartaric acid, with which it is isomeric, and from sugar, gum, etc., by oxidation. It is a sour white crystalline substance, consisting of a combination of dextrorotatory and levorotatory tartaric acids.

Racemose

Resembling a raceme; growing in the form of a raceme; as, (Bot.) racemose berries or flowers; (Anat.) the racemose glands, in which the ducts are branched and clustered like a raceme.

Racer

One who, or that which, races, or contends in a race; esp., a race horse.

Rache Rach

A dog that pursued his prey by scent, as distinguished from the greyhound.

Rachialgia

A painful affection of the spine; especially, Pott's disease; also, formerly, lead colic.

Rachidian

Of or pertaining to the rachis; spinal; vertebral. Same as Rhachidian.

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