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QUAB.
A trifle of mine own brain . . a scholar's fancy, A quab ; 'tis
nothing else, a very quab.
Quab, sb? Obs. exc. dial. (quob). Also 7
quabbe. [ = Du. kwabbe a boggy place ; cf. MLG.
quabbel slime, and see QUAG.] A marshy spot,
a bog.
Mountebanks, .for Medicines and Remedies. 1783 CRABBE
Village I, A potent quack, long versed in human ills, Who
first insults the victim whom he kills. 1809 W. IRVING
Knickerb. (1861) 127 He who has once been under the hands
of a quack, is for ever after prone to dabble in drugs. 1880
BEALE Slight Ailm. 22 Persons would be easily influenced
by what the quack says.
2. transf. One who professes a knowledge or
skill- concerning subjects of which he is ignorant.
= CHARLATAN 3.
1638 FORD Fancies ill. i, There he sits. .The very quack
[ftft.quaik, quake] of fashions. z7ioSrEELE TatlerNo. 195
P 2 Rules for knowing the Quacks in both Professions [Law
and Physic]. 1782 COWPER Progr. Err. 474 Church quacks,
with passions under no command, Who fill the world with
doctrines contraband. 1864 BURTON Scot Abr. I. v. 249
There is scarcely an instance of a lord rector having been
a clamorous quack or a canting fanatic.
8. attrib. and Comb., as quack-advertisement, -bill,
-bookseller, -doctor, -medicine, etc.; also quackadoring,
-ridden adjs.
1653 H. MORE Antid. Ath. m. ix. 2 (Schol.) Principles
that no . . pert Saucy Quack-Theologist can any way enervate.
1695 tr. ColbatcKs New Lt. Chirurg. Put out Title-p.,
The Base Imposture of his Quack Medicines, a. 1704 T.
BROWN Table Talk in Coll. Poems (1705) 130 A Chymist ..
and Quack-Booksellers being usually pasted together on
the same posts. 1785 Europ. Mag. VIII. 469 A dialogue
between the doctor and his clerk satirizes quack advertisements.
1839 CARLYLE Chartism v. 138 .
Europe lay pining,.
quack-ridden, hag-ridden. 1855 BROWNING Bp. Blougram
366 Quack-nonsense about crowns, And.. The vague idea
of setting things to rights. 1874 HELPS Soc. Press, ii. 26
A puffing, advertising, quack-adoring world.
Quack (kwsek), rf.2 [Imitative : cf. Du. kwak ,
G. quack, Sw. qvack (of ducks or frogs), Icel. kvak
twittering of birds. See also QUAKE int.'] The
harsh cry characteristic of a duck ; a sound resembling,
or imitating this. b. humorously. A duck.
183^ Lett. fr. Madras (1843) 29 Showing his teeth, and
uttering a loud quack ! 1869 BLACKMORE Lorna D. x, He
gave me a look from his one little . . eye and then a loud
"uack to second it. a 1897 Bird o' Freedom (Barrere &
-eland), I send her herewith a couple of quacks. 1901
A. R CONDER Seal Silence 211 The voice of the footman
rose high above the general quack of conversation.
t Quack, sb.Z Obs. rare. In 5 quakke, 6
quaoke. [Imitative : cf. QUACKLE w. 1 and LG.
quakken to 1
2.
moan, groan.] A state of hoarseness
or croaking in the throat.
c 1386 CHAUCER Reeve's T. 232 He yexeth, and he speketh
thurgh the nose As he were on the quakke, or on the pose.
1577 HARRISON England n. xxii. (1877) i. 338 The smoke
, . was reputed a far better medicine to keepe the goodman
and his familie from the quacke or pose.
[f. QUACK
Quack (kwsek), v.i
1. intr. To play the quack, a. To pretend to
have medical knowledge ;
Cf. QUABMIRE.
1617 MINSHEU Ductor, A Quabbe, or quagmire, a 1656
USSHER Ann. VI. (1638) 596 Defended by the Maeotis and
those quabs. 1847 HALUWELL, Quob, a quicksand or bog.
West. 1879 Miss JACKSON Shropsh. Word-tk., Qtiob, a
marshy spot in a field ; a quagmire.
Quab, v. Obs. exc. dial. (quob). [var. of
QUAP v. cf. G. ; quabbeln in same sense.] intr.
To beat, throb, quiver. Hence Quabbing ///. a.
1663 Flagellant, or O. Cromwell (1672) 123 A dangerous
impostume [printed -ure] of ambition, whose quabbing,
beating pains gaue them no rest. 1863 BARNES Dorset
Gloss., Quob, to quiver, like jelly. 1881 Leicester Gloss.,
Qitob, to throb.
Qna-bird (kwa-baid). U.S. Also 8 quaw-.
[f. qua, imitative of its note + Bim] The Night
Heron of North America, Nycticorax nsevius or
Gardeni.
1780-96 MORSE Amer. Geosr. I. 212 Quaw-bird or Frog
Catcher. 1835 Penny Cycl. IV. 471 The Night Heron or
ua Bird.. is found in both the old and new world. 1890
. GOSSE Life P. H. Gosse 115 Thompson's Point, the former
residence of the night-heron or qua-bird.
1
t Qua'bling. 06s. rare ,
[f. QOAB sbJ- +
-LING.] A goby or gudgeon.
1617 MINSHEU Ductor, A Quabling, or little Quabbe,..
gobio.
Quabmire. Obs. exc. dial. (quob-). [f. QUAB
sb.l or ., but found earlier.], A quagmire.
1597 BROUGHTON Ep. Nobil. Eng. Wks. 570 Oversights,
which for a dry causie bring us to quabmyres. 1841 HARTS-
HORNE Salop. Aritiff. Gloss. 539 Q-uobmire, a quagmire.
Quacha, obs. form of QCAGGA.
t Qua-cham. Obs. rare 1
. (?)
1515 BARCLAY Egloges iv. (1570) C. iv. b/2 We other
Shepnerdes . . Of common sortes, leane, ragged and rent,
Fed with rude frowise, with quacham, or with crudd.
Quacia, obs. form of QUASSIA.
Quack (kwsek), sbl Also 7 quaoke. [Abbrev.
OfQUACKSALVEB.]
1. An ignorant pretender to medical or surgical
skill; one who boasts to have a knowledge of
wonderful remedies ; an empiric or impostor in
medicine. = CHARLATAN 2.
1659 T. PECKE Parnassi Puerf. 145 Sir Quack his Patient
told, nothing could cure The stubborn Feaver. 1683
KENNETT tr. Erasm. on Folly 47 All these hard named
fellows cannot make So great a figure as a single Quacke.
X7 DE FOE Plague (1754) 36 Running after to dabble ignorantly in
medicine, b. To talk pretentiously and ignorantly,
like a quack, t Also with of.
1628 VENNER Baths of Bathe (16^0) 362 In quacking for
Patients he is so kind and free of his service. 1678 BUTLER
Hud. in. i. 330 To quack
Quacks and
of universal cures. Ibid. 364
A Virtuoso, able To smatter, quack, and cant, and dabble.
1722 DE FoE/Vtfi/ (Rtldg.) 45 Ignorant Fellows; quacking
and tampering in Physick. 1756 C. LUCAS Ess. Waters I.
Pref., Enlighten then their understandings .. and who
then will venture to quack, or be quacked ? 1876 G.
MEREDITH Beauck. Career III. ii. 20, A wiseacre who went
quacking about the country, expecting to upset the order
of things.
2. trans. To advertise, puff, or palm off with
fraudulent and boastful pretensions, as a quackmedicine
or means of cure. fAlso with forth.
f To quack titles : to invent new titles for old books
in order to make them sell.
1651 BIGGS AVro Disp. Pref. 9 To be Quacked forth in
Bartholmew-Fayr. 1651 CLEVELAND Poems 33 Could I (in
Sir Emp'ricks tone) Speak pills in phrase, and quack destruction.
1715 MRS. CENTLIVRE Gotham Elect. i,. My third
Son is a bookseller, .he has an admirable knack at quacking
Titles. 1737 BRADLEY Fam. Diet. s. v. Gill ale, A notorious
Imposition, which is quack 'd upon the World . . to be a
great Restorative and Curer of Consumptions. 1830 Examiner
610/2 The Politician must be quacked, paragraphed,
. .and coteried into notoriety.
3. To treat after the fashion of a quack ; to
administer quack medicines to to seek to ;
remedy
or put right by empirical or ignorant treatment.
Also with ///.
1746 H. WALPOLE Lett, to Mann (1833) H- 124 If he has
any skill in quacking madmen, his art may perhaps be of
service now. 1757 ELIZ. GRIFFITH Lett. Henry fy Frances
*
(1767) I. 84, I am. .as hoarse as '. bondage I shall therefore
stay here to-night, and quack myself. 1778 Sketches
for Tabernacle Frames 17 For quacking Souls you cannot
be attack'd. 1810 BENTHAM racking (ifai) 144 Epitaph on
a Valetudinarian, who quacked himself to death. 1820
COL. HAWKER Diary (1893) I. 195, I tried with bricks,
baskets and everything., to quack up one of them [defective
chimneys], a 1876 HT. MARTINEAU Autobiog. (1877) I. 147
The less its condition is quacked, .the better for the mind's
health.
Hence Quacked///, a.
a 1876 HT. MARTINEAU A utobiog. (1877) II. 461 Such exhortations
are too low for even the . . quacked morality of
a time of theological suspense.
Quack (kwsek), z/.2 Also 8 quaake. [Imitative
: cf. Du, kwakken, G. quacken to croak, quack.
Older variants are QUACKLE, QUAKE, QUECK, q.v.]
1. intr. Of a duck: To utter its characteristic
note. Also with cognate obj.
1617 MINSHEU Ductor^ To Quacke as a . ducke, .coaxare.
'
icks
jimmiig a oise, asducks do. 1755 JOHNSON, QIUU.K, . . mis
word is often written gnaake, to represent the sound better.
1815 [see QUACKING vbl. $b?\. x86a G. KEARLEY Links in
Chain ix. (1863) 322 [The duck] no sooner recognized the
aviary . . than he quacked vehemently. 1869 BLACKMORE
Lorna D. x, There were thirteen ducks .. and . . they all
quacked very movingly. 1893 EARL DUNMORE Pamirs I.
185 They [some ducks] .. quacked the quack of derision
at us.
b. Of a raven or frog: To croak, rare.
1727 BOYER Anglo-Fr. Diet., To Quack (or to croak, as
Ravens do), croasser. 1892 TENNYSON Foresters ii. ii. 97
My frog that used to quack When I vaulted on his back.
2. transf.. To make a harsh sound like the note of
a duck ; to make a noisy outcry.
a 16x4 BP. M. SMITH Serm. (1632) 136 An example to all
their betters.
busie-bodyes, that will dare . . to quacke against
1894 HALL CAINE Manxman 265 He puffed till his lips
quacked, though the pipe gave out no smoke.
Quack, Quack-belly, -breech, -myre,
Quacker : see QUAKE v. l t QUAKER.
Quackery 1 (kwse-kari). [f. QOACK sbl + -EBY.]
The characteristic practices or methods of a quack ;
charlatanry.
1709-11 J. SPINKE (title) Quackery Unmask'd. 1717 LADY
M. W. MONTAGU Let. to Abbe Conti i Apr., I know you
Condemn the quackery, .as much as you revere the , .truths,
in which we both agree. 1798 Trans. Soc. Arts XVI. 190
All the nostrums offered., are mere quackery. 1840 CARLYLE
Heroes (1858) 187 Quackery and dupery do abound; in
religions . . they have fearfully abounded. 1874 MAHAFFY
Soc. Life Greece ix. 273 The old quackery of charms and
incantations. 1885 Contemp. Rev. June 908 Theosophy [is]
. .one of the least interesting of spiritual quackeries.
Quackery ^(kwse'kari). nonce-wd. [f.QuACK^.2
+ -EBT.] The quacking of a number of ducks.
1828 J. WILSON in Blackw. Mag. XXIV. 293 A sort of
low, thick, gurling, . . nor unmusical quackery. 1831 Ibid.
XXX. 966 The quackery of a startled storm of wild ducks.
Quackhood (kwse-khud). [f. QUACK sbl +
-HOOD.] = QUACKERY 1 .
1843 CARLYLE Past