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QUERULOUS.
1614 T. ADAMS Sinners Passing Bell Wks. (1629) 264 Will
not these mournings, menaces, *querulations, stirre your
hearts? 1785 R. CUMBERLAND Observer No. 103 P 3 A . . lady
rather captious and *querulental. 1806 Mem. 17 Wai-
pole had. .a plea for being captious and *querulential, for
he was a martyr to the gout. 1838 S. BELLAMY Betrayal 94
The Devil give thee heed ! he'll better
Haply
care thy
*queruling Than He I follow mine. 1788 T. TOUCHSTONE
Trifler 431, I have carefully examined the various subjects
of complaint. .If my third fair *querulist would [etc.]. 1866
. . _
Querulous (kwe'mZtos), a. Also 6 -ose, 7
querr-. [ad. late L. querulos-us^ f. qiterulus, f.
tjuerito complain : cf. QUERELOUS, QUARBELOUS.]
1. Of persons : Complaining, given to complain-
ing, full of complaints, peevish.
In first quot. possibly for querelous QUARRELOUS ; a certain
confusion between the words is also suggested by some ipth
c. quots., which at least do not imply peevish or whining
complaint.
? a 1500 Mankind (Brand! 1896) 46/200 My body wyth my
soull ys euer querulose [rime house]. 1594 HOOKER EccL
Pol. in. xi. 9 A people, .by nature hard-hearted, querulous,
wrathfull. 1610 HEALEY Theophrastus (1636) 63 These are
the maners of a querrulous waiward man. 1651 BAXTER Inf.
Bapt. 242, I would have no godly man be over querulous,
when God hath done so much for us. 1750 JOHNSON Ramble''
No. 73 F i The querulous are seldom received with great
ardour of kindness. 1837 WHEWELL Hist. Induct. Sc.
(1857)
II. 149 He was naturally querulous and jaundiced in his
views. 1879 FROUDE Cxsar xxvi. 445 His sons and nephews
were equally querulous and dissatisfied.
b. Of animals or things: Uttering or producing
sounds expressive or suggestive of complaint.
1635 SWAN Spec. M. viii. 2 (1643) 409 The Lapwing
174 Ye purling quer'llous Brooks! o'ercharged with grief.
1847 DICKENS Haunted M. (C. D. ed.) 205 One querulous
rook, unable to sleep, protested now and then.
2. Of the nature of, characterized by, complaining.
1540 tr. Pol. Verg. Eng. Hist. (Camden) 100 Querulous
repetition, as well of late as of almost forgotten fault es.
1642 HOWELL For. Trait. (Arb.) 19 French . . hath a whining
kind of querulous tone. 1714 S6ect. No. 618 r 2 His Versifi-
cation . . should be soft, ancf all his Numbers flowing
and querulous. 1783 JOHNSON Let. to Mrs. ThraU 19 June,
I am almost ashamed of this querulous letter. 1848 DICKENS
Dombey xxxiv, She uttered a querulous cry of disappointment
and misery. 1874 L. STEPHEN Hours tn Library (1893)
II. vii. 225 The querulous comments of old ladies.
Que'rulously, adv. [f. prec. + -LY2.] In a
querulous manner.
165* GAULE Magastrom. 147 Querulously accusing her for
playing with her own gifts. 17*8 YOUNG Love Fame vi. 138
His wounded ears complaints eternal fill, As unoil'd hinges,
querulously shrill. 1812 H. & J. SMITH Rej. Addr. x, Objections,
.captiously urged and querulously maintained. 1883
SIR T. MARTIN La. Lyndhurst xiv. 366 [They] complained
almost querulously of the bitterness of Lord Lynrthurst's
invectives.
Que'rulousness. [f. as prec. + -NESS.] The
state or condition of being querulous.
x6$a J, AUDLEY Engl. Commonw. Ded., To answer the
querulousnesse of some persons. 1730 JOHNSON Rambler
the embarrass'd host to buy, By query close, direct reply.
1866 GEO. ELIOT F. Holt (1868) 22 She had prepared herself
.. to suppress all . . queries which her son might resent.
P. a 1635 CORBET Poems (1807) 63 He that is guilty of no
quaery here, Out-lasts his epitaph. 1648 JENKYN Blind
Guide iv.gfi My first quaeree, is whether grace DC an adjutory.
1684 T. BURNET Th. Earth n. 218 A great many queries
and difficulties might be proposed relating to the millennium.
1719 D'URFEY Pills (1872) II. 99 What News, is the Quary.
3. A mark of interrogation (?), used to indicate
a doubt as to the correctness of the statement,
phrase, letter, etc. to which it is appended or
refers the abbreviation ;
qy* etc. used for the same
purpose. 1836 in SMART. 1882- in OGILVIE, etc.
t Query, sb? Obs. rare" 1
. [App. f. L. querl
to complain,] ? Complaint.
13 . . E. E. A Hit. P. A. 802 As a schep to be sla^t her lad
was he, & as lombe. .So closed he hys mouth fro vch query.
46
Query (kwi^'ri), v. Also 7 qusery. [f. QUEBY
so\ Ct. QU^KE v.1
1. trans. To put as a question. ? Obs.
1657 Narr. late ParIt. in Select.fr. Harl. Misc. (1793) 409
The like may be queried concerning the swordsmen's capacity
to sit. 1661 GLANVILL Van. Dogtn. 188 It's queried whether
there be any Science in the sense of the Dogmatists. 17*6
BERKELEY Let. 1 2 Oct., in Fraser Ltfe'vf. (1871) 136, I do ..
entreat you to answer all that I have queried on that head.
1755 B. MARTIN Mag. Arts $ Sc. 130, I .. shall suspend
what I have further to query 'till To-morrow.
b. With interrogative clause as obj. : To ask,
inquire, put a question (whether, if, what, etc.).
1657 S. PURCHAS Tkeat. Pot. Flying-Ins. 15 Some query
whether a living creature can subsist without the head.
1658 SIR T. BROWNE Pseud. Ep.\. xxii. (ed. 3) 328 We shall
not proceed to querie, What truth there is in Palmistrie.
1681 E. MURPHY State Ireland 40 The Deponent, .queried
if Captain Butler was come thither. 1756 H. WALPOLE Lett,
to Mann 17 Oct. (1846) III. 245 Should not one query
whether he had not those proofs in his hands antecedent to
the cabinet ? 1818 SCOTT Hrt. Midi, xiii, '
Shall we remove
Mr. Butler ? ', queried the assistant. 1866 WHITTIER Marg .
Smith's Jrxl* Pr. Wks. 1889 I. 64 On my querying whether
any did find treasures hereabout, my aunt laughed.
C. absol. To ask a question or questions.
1681 T. FLATMAN Heraclitns Ridens No. 4 (1713) I. 23
Nay, if you be for that Sport, e'en Query by your self. 17x0
S. PARKER Bibliotheca Biblica I. 394 He queried, and
reason'd thus with himself. 17x8 POPE Dune. n. 349 Each
prompt to query, answer, and debate. 1814 BYRON Lara
i. i note A t passenger queried as to the author.
2. To question, interrogate (a person), rare,
1654 GAYTON Pleas. Notes 97 The Don . . assaults the first
pittifull Scout . . whom he should have quxried in this
manner. 1690 CHILD Disc. Trade (1608) 47 So I have been
assured by many antient men whom I have queried particularly
as to this matter, t 1890 A. MURDOCH Yoskiwara
Episode in Fr. Anstr. to Japan (1892) 49 He . . began to
query her about the financial part of the business.
3. To call (a thing) in question ; to mark as
doubtful.
1771 Ann. Reg. 54/2 The returning officer . . had queried
76 [votes]. 1839 DISRAELI Curios. Lit. (1849) H* 324 $'r
John., afterwards came to doubt it with a 'i^zVr hoc quaere*
query this !
b. To question, doubt, */] etc.
18x5 W. H. IRELAND Scribbleomania 140, I very much
query if two, and sometimes three of Sonim's Alpine pictures
were not condensed into one by the author.
1
Hence Que'rying vbl. sb. and ppl. a. ; Que'ryingly
adv. ; Qne'ryist = QUERIST.
1669 W. SIMPSON Hydrol. Chym. 107 One able physitian
being asked... The querying person returned, that [etc.].
1706 W. JONES Synop. Palmar. Matkeseos 140 The Querying
Term in the 3i. Place. 1863 Reader 19 Dec. 720 A queryist
in the American Publishers Circular. 1865 E. BURRITT
Walk to Land's End 286 A pair of baby eyes, peering upward
with querying wonder. 1890 Harper's Mag* July
272/1 The query jngs of philosophy. 1890 JEAN MIDDLEMASS
Two False Moves I. xv. 226 He looked at her querymgly.
a 1577 SIR T. SMITH Comtn-w. Eng. (1609) 73 Enquest or
quest is called this lawful! kinde of trial! by twelue men.
1694 LUTTRELL BriefRel. (1857) III. 417 The lord mayor
and aldermen of London have forbid feasting at the quests.
1876- In dial, glossaries (Yks., Chesh., Som., etc.).
2. The body of persons appointed to hold an
inquiry. = INQUEST sb. 2. Now rare.
13 . . Evang. Nicod. 243 in Archiv neu. Sfir. LIII. 396 He
chesed a quest, on him to pas. c 1440 Jacob* $ Well 257 J>ou
schalt . . aftyrward be pourgyd out wyth a quest of clerkys.
1470-83 MAUORY^r/Awrin. viii, Byordenaunceof thequene
QUEST.
ther was set a quest of ladyes on syr gauayn. 1549 LATIHER
5/A Senn. bef. Ediv. VI (Arb.) 153 The quest commes in and
sayes not guilty. 1579 FULKE Heskins' Parl. 499 He bhoulde
haue twelue which make a quest, to giue verdict in this
matter. 1612 T. TAYLOR Comm. Titus lii. i Which is as if
a theife should be tried by a quest of cut-purses, a 1661
FULLER Worthies (1840) II. 483 One quest of gentlemen,
another of yeomen passed upon him. 1706 [see QUEST-
WAN i]. 11845 HOOD To Tom Woodgate vi, Twelve brave
mermen for a 'quest. 1884 St. Jameses Gaz. 4 Tan. 3/2 The
*
coroner's quest pronounces in accordance with the evidence '.
fig. c 1600 SHAKS. Sonn. xlvi. To side this title is impannelled
A quest of thoughts, all tennant to the heart.
fb. transf. A dozen (cf. quot. 1579 above). Obs.
1589 Almond for Parrat 14 lie haue a spare fellowe shall
make mee a whole quest effaces for three farthinges.
3. Any inquiry or investigation made in order to
discover some fact ; also, the object of such inquiry.
1598 FLO RIO Diet. Ep. Ded. 3, 1 in this search or quest of
inquirie haue spent most of my studies. 1627 Lisander
fyCal. in. 39 The quest ended with no more knowledge than
it began. 1717 SWIFT To Earl of Oxford, In quest, who
might this parson be. 1831 CARLYLE Sari. Res. ii. viii, Let
us not forget the great generality, which is our chief quest
here. 1878 Masque Poets 101 The guest Half paused to ask
in idle quest.
H. 4. Search or pursuit, made in order to find
or obtain something. Const, of^ for.
13. . E. E. Allit. P. B. 39 Hit arn fettled in on forme . .
& by quest of her quoyntyse enquylen on mede. 1526 Pilgr.
Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 96 b, Peace & brotherly Concorde
dissolueth this quest & assaute of enuy. 1605 SHAKS. Lear
i. i. 196 What. .Will you require in present Dower with her,
Or cease your quest of Loue ? 1655 H. VAURHAN Silex Scint.
i. Search (1858) 34 My Quest is vaine, Hee'll not be found
where he was slaine. 1704 F. FULLER Med. Gymn. (1711) 138
To rouse People into a Quest of Health. 1816 BYRON Ch.
Har. in. Ixxvi, Whose desire Was to be glorious; 'twas
a foolish quest. 1874 GREEN Short Hist. viii. 5 4. 491
Luckily the quest of gold proved a vain one.
b. Freq. in phr. in quest of (f after, or inf.).
1575 CHURCHYARD Chippes (1817) 24 In quest of solace, he
retired to Bath, c 1600 SHAKS. Sonn. cxxix, Had, haumg,
and in quest to haue. 1663 BUTLER Hud. i. iii. 233 He went
in quest of Hudibras. 1705 HEARNE Collect, 6 Oct. (O. H. S.)
I. 52 He is in quest after other Pieces. iSao W. IRVING
Sketch Bk. II. 349 The ghost rides forth to the scene of
battle in nightly quest of his head. i86a GOULBURN Pers.
Relig. iv. i. (1873) 256 Eager running to and fro in quest of
worldly wealth.
f c. A person (or set of persons) employed in
searching. Obs. rare"~l .
1604 SHAKS. Oth. i. ii. 46 The Senate hath sent about three
seuerall Quests, To search you out.
5. In mediaeval romance : An expedition or adventure
undertaken by a knight to some
procure
thing or achieve some exploit ; the knights engaged
No. 50 P 7 The querulousness ana indignation which is
(
observed so often [etc.]. 1828 D !SRAELI Cktts. /, I. ii. 23
That impatient querulousness, which betrays its moments of
weakness. 1884 Expositor Feb. 87 Querulousness and the
captiousness of despair took possession of them.
Query (kwi*ri), j^.l Also 7 queree, queeree,
7^5 queery. [Anglicizing of quere^ QUAERE.]
1. Introducing a =
question: QILERE i.
Now rarely written in full, being usually expressed by the
abbreviation gy. (