Q

QUAFF (kwahf) v to drink deeply

• Brett was planning to meet his friends at the pub after work to quaff a few pints before heading home.
• The medicine tasted so foul that I had to hold my nose and quaff it all in one gulp.

QUAIL (kwayl) v to shrink back in fear, lose courage

• The puppy quailed at the angry tone in Alicia’s voice and put his tail between his legs.
• I quailed at the thought of jumping out of a plane as soon as I looked down, which was probably a little late to be having second thoughts.

QUALIFY (KWAH li fy) v to limit

• Although she was careful to qualify any claims she made about the implications of her discovery, it was clear her research signaled a major breakthrough in the search for a cure.
• He qualified the harshness of his criticism by smiling warmly at the students as he delivered it.

QUALMS (kwahm) n misgivings, reservations, causes for hesitancy

• Mai had qualms about accepting a job so far away from her family, but decided in the end that it was the right option for her.
• Pete had no qualms about singing in public, which was a little surprising since he couldn’t carry a tune.

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Quick Quiz #49

Match each word in the first column with its definition in the second column. Check your answers here.

1.   pusillanimous	a.  looking to the future
2.   qualify	b.  childish
3.   provident	c.  quarrelsome
4.   putrefy	d.  precise
5.   puerile	e.  authority
6.   punctilious	f.  having a strong smell
7.   quail	g.  cowardly
8.   pugnacious	h.  rot
9.   pundit	i.  drink deeply
10.   pungent	j.  lose courage
11.   qualms	k.  limit
12.   quaff	l.  reservations

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QUERIES (KWE rees) n questions, inquiries, reservations

• Liza’s queries to the Library of Congress for information concerning the old manuscript did not produce the results she had hoped for.
• Although I had some initial queries about his sincerity, I decided to trust his proclamations of undying love.

QUERULOUS (KWER yuh lus) adj prone to complaining or grumbling, quarrelsome

• Her querulous demand to know every five minutes whether we were there yet started to get on my nerves.
• Mitch tended to become querulous when he hadn’t had his afternoon nap.

QUIESCENCE (kwy ES unts) n stillness, motionlessness, quality of being at rest.

• The volcano’s quiescence was only temporary; it could erupt at any time.

Quiescent means inactive, latent, causing no trouble, being at rest.

• Malaria can remain quiescent for years at a time, only to recur at some later point.
• According to Newton, quiescent objects tend to remain at rest unless acted upon by an outside force.

QUOTIDIAN (kwoh TID ee un) adj occurring or recurring daily, commonplace

• The quotidian drag of cornflakes for breakfast, a meaningless job, a TV dinner and the same old shows before going to bed at the same time every night was starting to get Jasper down, so he switched to waffles for breakfast to shake things up a bit.
• Whenever possible, Anita tried to sleep through her quotidian train commute home.