Being 15th in an irregularly posted series of carefully selected words from the Word Lover’s Dictionary: Unusual, Obscure, and Preposterous Words by Josefa Heifetz (New York: Carol Publishing, 1974, 1994, ISBN: 0806517204). For beginning entries in this series, please see Part 1 and Part 2. If you want to find all posts in the series, search on the title "Will Geek for Words" on this site. Eventually I add them to the sidebar listing. Part 15 consists of the letter "Q" words. "Geek" is used here as an intimation of the eldritch horror existing before our ancestors were even apes, before the first ocean creature crawled from the sea. These Elder Geeks saw a different reality, bathed in cosmic rays and illuminated by colours beyond the visible spectrum seen by mere mortal humans. Down through the years, they have muttered and shouted "Cthulhu fhtagn!" If you value your sanity, never, never feed this sort of geek seafood; your mind could not stand the metamorphosis which follows.

No kickbacks are involved and this is not a promotional stunt. I am not paid to plug this book yet here I am, mentioning it at the top of each of these posts and linking to the Amazon page for it. I am still half-expecting and awaiting a "cease and desist" letter from someone's lawyers. ("Tick-tock, Clarice, tick-tock.") I'm sure it's "fair use" to include excerpted selections in a non-commercial venture. Did I mention that I'm poor? (This intro keeps getting weirder, stranger and sicker as time goes on. When the words turn weird, the weird churn prose.)

• quaa, n.: a quagmire. also qua, quaw.
• quacksalver, n.: a charlatan, quack.
• quaddle, v.i.: to grumble. -n. a grumbler (British dialect).
• quaestuary, adj.: done or performed for money. -n someone who looks first to profit.
• quahog, n.: a thick-shelled American or North Atlantic clam. -v.i. to dig for quahogs.
• quartan, adj.: happening every fourth day; pertaining to the fourth. -n. a fever that returns every fourth day. 2. a measure equaling one-fourth of another measure.
• quarternight, n.: halfway between sundown and midnight.
• quaternary, n.: 1. a group of four; the number four. 2. (cap.) the Quaternary period (geology: sometimes called the Age of Man).
• quatrayle, n.: a great-great-great-grandfather.
• quawk, n. & v.: 1. caw, screetch. 2. the night heron. see qua.
• quean, n.: 1. a whore. 2. a young or unmarried woman. -v.i. to go around with queans.
• qued, adj.: evil, bad. -n evil; an evil person; the Devil.
• quelquechose, n.: a mere trifle, kickshaw (which see).
• queme, adj.: pleasant, agreeable, suitable. -v.t.&i. to please, suit, satisfy.
• querlmony, n.: a complaint.
• quidam, n.: an unknown person.
• quiddity, n.: the essence or nature of a thing. (that which answers the question, quid est? = what is it?) 2. a subtle distinction; cavil, quibble. 3. something intangible.
• quidnunc, n.: one who is curious to know everything that is going on; a gossip (Latin quid nunc? = what now?).
• quiff, n.: hair oiled and brushed away from the forehead.
• quire, n.: 1. a set of folded sheets fitting one within another. 2. a collection of twenty-four sheets [of paper] of the same size. 3. a small book or pamphlet consisting of a quire; a work that might be contained in a quire. -v.t. to make into quires.
• quo, n.: something traded for something else.
• quob, v.i.: to move, throb, quiver, or shake.
• quonking, n.: side-line chatter that disturbs a performer (slang).
• quoob, n.: a jerk; a misfit; a fish-out-of-water; a loser.
• quoz, n.: something ridiculous, absurd, or strange.
• qutb, n.: an Islamic saint who has reached the highest degree of sanctity.

Thus endeth the "Q" words of interest. Quack, quack.

Labels: etymology, will geek for words, words