Here - Norm's Book Club

QUALITY.
1693 Humours Town 114 Walk Bare-headed to his
Master's Daughter, in imitation of Quality. i7o6EsTcouRT
Fair Exatnp. v. i, Did not you tell me . . that you was
acquainted with all the Quality. 1753 RICHARDSON Sir C.
Grandison III. ii. (1781) 15, I have looked out among the
quality for a future husband for her. 1769 WESLEY in Wks,
1872 III. 370 A large company of Quality (as they called
them) came. 18x4 BYRON Juan xvi. Ixiv, She was country
born and bred And knew no better. .Than to wax white
for blushes are for quality. 1843 LEVER J. Hinton xl, I was
standing . . among all the grand generals and the quality.
1889 John Bull 2 Mar. 142/2 He was fond of quality, and
quality was very fond o' him,
f5. Profession, occupation, business, esp. that of
an actor, b. Fraternity ; those of the same profession
; esp. actors as a body. Obs.
1500-20 DUN-BAR Poems xxxiv. 88 The rest of craftis gryt
aithis swair. . Ilk ane into thair qualitie. 1591 SHAKS. Two
Gent. iv. i. 58 A Linguist, and a man of such perfection, As
we doe in our quality much want. 1603 J. DAVIES Microcosmos
215 Players, I love yee, and your Qualitie. 1625
FLETCHER Fair Maid ofInn v. ii, I am weary of this trade
of fortune- . . telling, it is a very ticklish quality. 1626 MAS-
SINGER Rom. Actor \. iii, In thee, as being the chief of thy
18
*t* b. Nature, with reference to origin ; hence,
cause, occasion. Obs. rare :
1606 SHAKS. Tr. $ Cr. iv. i. 44 Giue him note of our
approach, With the whole quality whereof, I feare We shall
be much vnwelcome. 1607 Timon ill. vi. 117 Know you
the quality of Lord Timons fury ?
9. Without article: a. That aspect of things
under which they are considered in thinking or
speaking of their nature, condition, or properties.
The notion of quality includes all the attributes of a thing,
'
except those of relation and quantity. Quality '
is the
third of the Aristotelian categones.
1533 ELYOT Cast. Helthe (1539) i6b, Qualitie. .is the state
thereof, as Hotte or cold, moist or dry. 1656 STANLEY Hist.
Philos. I. v. 70 Ifquality be void of matter, it must likewise be
void of corporeity. 1727 CHAMBERS Cycl. s.v., The antient
school-philosophers distinguish quality in the general, .into
essential and accidental. 1829 JAS. MILL Hum. Mirfd(i$6g)
II. xiv. n. 60 Quality is used as the generical name of every
thing in objects, for which a separate notation is required.
1884 tr. Lotze"s Metaph. 45 Thequestion is renewed as to the
actual essence which . . lies behind this surface of Quality.
QUALM.
ExpL I. ii. 2$ Hans bad given me a touch of his quality by
spearing a bird on the wing. 1863 DORAN Ann. Stage 369
Thomas . . gave the stranger a hearty welcome, ,. asked for
a taste of his quality. 1871 BROWNING Pr. Ho/ienst. 1165
Can't you contrive to operate at once, .. to shew Your
quality i' the world.
C. Without article or :
poss. pron. Excellence
of disposition ; good natural gifts. (Cf. 9 c.)
1606 SHAKS. Tr. Cowper(\lty 11.307
The parishioners, .built and adorned the church in as good
a quality as any round about it.
t C. A habit ; a power or faculty. Obs. rare.
1647 FULLER Good Th. in Worse T. (1841) 98 Jordan had
a quality in the first month to overflow all his banks. 1663
GERBIEK Counsel b iij a, If it had a speaking quality, your
Grace would hear its..Alembick sing the Gold its joy.
fd. Concretely: A substance of a certain nature;
an essence. Obs. rare.
1704 SWIFT Batt. Bk. Misc. (1711) 257 An atramentous
Quality, of most malignant Nature, was seen to distil from
his Lips. 1823 J. BADCOCK Dom. Amusem. 21 The wood. .
throws out its volatile qualities, aquaeous and acidulous,
into the respective tubes.
8. The nature, kind, or character (of something).
Now restricted to cases in which there is comparison
(expressed or implied) with other things of the same
kind ; hence, the degree or grade of excellence, etc.
possessed by a thing, -f- In the quality of\ (cf. 6).
CI374 CHAUCER Troylus HI. Prol. 31 Ye knowe al |>ilke
couered qualite Of tnng which bat folk on wondren so.
c 1400 MAUNDEV. (Roxb.) xiii. 59 A man may gyffe no
couenable penaunce bot if he knawe be qualitee and \>e
quantitee of be synne. 1509 HAWES Past. Pleas, xxm.
(Percy Soc.) 106 After the qualyte it doth take effecte. 1570
DEE Math. Pref. 8 An other liquid Medicine I haue : whose
Qualitie is heate, in the first degree. 1650 BAXTER Saints'
Jf. i. iv. (1662) 22 It is so little I know of mine own soul,
either its
quiddity or quality. 1697 DRYDEN Virg. Georg.
in. 237 This flying Plague (to mark its quality ;) Oestros
the Grecians call. 1794 J. HUTTON Philos. Light, etc. 272
This
principle
of fire moves, in the quality of light, with the
most amazing velocity. 1841-4 EMERSON Ess. t Prudence
Wks. (Bonn) I. 95 There is more difference in the quality
of our pleasures than in the amount. 1849 Miss MITFORD
in L'Estrange Life (1870) III. ix. 142 The perfection of
cunning is to conceal its own quality. 1879 HARLAN Eyesight
viii. 1 14 It is on account of the quality, rather than the
size, of English print, that it is usually so much b. Gram. Manner of action (cf. 7 b), as denoted
by
ple