Chapter Quixote to Quotem of Q by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Quixote to Quotem

Quixote (Don) is intended for the Duke of Lerma. (Rawdon Brown.)
   Don Quixote. The romance so called is a merciless satire by Cervantes on the chivalric romances of the Middle Ages, and had the excellent effect of putting an end to knight-errantry.
   Don Quixote's horse. Rosinante (Spanish, rocin-ante, a jade previously). (See Horse.)
   The wooden-pin wing-horse on which he and Sancho Panza mounted to achieve the liberation of Dolorida and her companions was called Algiero Clavileno (wooden-pin wing-bearer).

Quixote of the North Charles XII. of Sweden, sometimes called the Madman. (1682, 1697-1718.)

Quixotic Having foolish and unpractical ideas of honour, or schemes for the general good, like Don Quixote, a half-crazy reformer or knight of the supposed distressed.

Quiz One who banters or chaffs another. Daly, manager of the Dublin theatre, laid a wager that he would introduce into the language within twenty-four hours a new word of no meaning. Accordingly, on every wall, or all places accessible, were chalked up the four mystic letters, and all Dublin was inquiring what they meant. The wager was won, and the word remains current in our language.

Quo Warranto A writ against a defendant (whether an individual or a corporation) who lays claim to something he has no right to; so named because the offender is called upon to show quo warranto [rem] usurpavit (by what right or authority he lays claim to the matter of dispute).

Quod To be in quod- in prison. A corruption of quad, which is a contraction of quadrangle. The quadrangle is the prison enclosure in which the prisoners are allowed to walk, and where whippings used to be inflicted.

“Flogged and whipped in quod.”
Hughes: Tom Brown's Schooldays.

Quodling (The Rev. Mr.). Chaplain to the Duke of Buckingham. (Sir Walter Scott: Peveril of the Peak.)

“Why,' said the duke, `I had caused my little Quodling to go through his oration thus: That whatever evil reports had passed current during the lifetime of the worthy matron whom they had restored to dust that day, Malice herself could not deny that she was born well, married well, lived well, and died well; since she was born in Shadwell, married to Cresswell, lived in Camberwell and died in Bridewell.”- Peveril of the Peak, chap. xliv.

Quondam (Latin). Former. We say, He is a quondam schoolfellow- my former schoolfellow; my quondam friend, the quondam candidate, etc.; also the quondam chancellor, etc.

“My quondam barber, but `his lordship' now.”
Dryden.

Quorum Such a number of persons as are necessary to make up a committee or board; or certain justices without the presence of whom the rest cannot act. Thus, suppose the commission to be named A, B, C, D, E, etc., it would run- “Of these I wish [A, B, C, D, or E] to be one” (quorum unum esse volumus). These honoured names are called “Justices of the Quorum.” Slender calls Justice Shallow justice of the peace and quorum. (Shakespeare Merry Wives of Windsor, i. 1.)

Quos Ego A threat of punishment for disobedience. The words are from Virgil's AEneid (i. 135), and were uttered by Neptune to the disobedient and rebellious winds.

“Neptune had but to appear and utter a quos ego for these wind-bags to collapse, and become the most subservient of salaried public servants.”- Truth, January, 1886.

Quot Quot linguas calles, tot homines vales. As many languages as you know, so many separate individuals you are worth. Attributed to Charles V.

Quota (Latin). The allotted portion or share; the rate assigned to each. Thus we say, “Every man is to pay his quota towards the feast.”

Quotem (Caleb). A parish clerk and Jack-of-all-trades, in The Wags of Windsor, by Colman.