Chapter Queen's Weather to Quicksilver of Q by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Queen's Weather to Quicksilver

Queen's Weather A fine day for a fête; so called because Queen Victoria is, for the most part, fortunate in having fine weather when she appears in public.

Queenhithe (London). The hithe or strand for lading and unlading barges and lighters in the city. Called “queen” from being part of the dowry of Eleanor, Queen of Henry II.

Queenstown (Ireland), formerly called the Cove of Cork. The name was changed in 1850, out of compliment to Queen Victoria, when she visited Ireland with her husband, and created her eldest son Earl of Dublin.

Queer Counterfeit money.
   To shove the queer To pass counterfeit money.

Queer Card (A). A strange or eccentric person. In whist, etc., when a wrong card is played, the partner says to himself, “That is a queer card,” which, being transferred to the player, means he is a queer card to play in such a manner. Hence any eccentric person, who does not act in accordance with social rules, is a “queer card”.

Queer Chap is the German querkopf, a cross-grained fellow

Queer Street To live in Queer Street. To be of doubtful solvency. To be one marked in a tradesman's ledger with a quaere (inquire), meaning, make inquiries about this customer.
   That has put me in Queer Street. That has posed or puzzled me queerly. In this phrase queer means to puzzle; and Queer Street = puzzledom.

Quency A corruption of quintefeuil (five-leaved), the armorial device of the family.

Querelle d'Allemand A contention about trifles, soon provoked and soon appeased. (See Queue .)

Quern-Biter The sword of Haco I. of Norway. (See Sword .)

“Quern-biter of Hacon the Good,
Wherewith at a stroke he hewed
The millstone through and through."
Longfellow.

Querno Camillo Querno, of Apulia, hearing that Leo X. was a great patron of poets, went to Rome with a harp in his hand, and sang his Alexias, a poem containing 20,000 verses. He was introduced to the Pope as a buffoon, but was promoted to the laurel.

Rome in her Capitol saw Querno sit.
Thronëd on seven hills, the Antichrist of wit.”
Dunciad, ii.

Querpo (2 syl.). Shrill Querpo in Garth's Dispensary, was Dr. Howe.
   In querpo. In one's shirt-sleeves, in undress. (Spanish, en cuerpo, without a cloak.)

“Boy, my cloak and rapier; it fits not a gentleman of my rank to walk the streets in querpo.”- Beaumont and Fletcher: Love's Cure, ii. 1.

Questa Cortesissima (Italian). Most courteous one; a love term used by Dante to Beatrice.

“I set myself to think of that most courteous one (questa cortesissima,) and thinking of her there fell upon me a sweet sleep”- Mrs. Oliphant: Makers of Florence (Dante's description).

Questa Gentilissima (Italian). Most gentle one, a love term used by Dante to Beatrice

“Common mortals stand and gaze with bated breath while that most gentle one (questa gentilissima) goes on her way”- Mrs. Oliphant: Makers of Florence, p. 25.

Question To move the previous question No one seems able to give any clear and satisfactory explanation of this phrase. Erskine May, in his Parliamentary Practice, p. 303 (9th edition), says: “It is an ingenious method of avoiding a vote upon any question that has been proposed, but the technical phrase does little to elucidate its operation. When there is no debate, or after a debate is closed, the Speaker ordinarily puts the question as a matter of course, ... but by a motion for the previous question, this act may be intercepted and forbidden. The custom [used to be] `that the question be now put,' but Arthur Wellesley Peel, while Speaker, changed the words `be now put' into `be not put.'” The former process was obviously absurd. To continue the quotation from Erskine May: “Those who wish to avoid the putting of the main question, vote against the