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determines the time in which it is pronounced; as, the long or short quantity of a vowel or syllable. (c)
(Mus.) The relative duration of a tone.
2. That which can be increased, diminished, or measured; especially (Math.), anything to which mathematical
processes are applicable.
Quantity is discrete when it is applied to separate objects, as in number; continuous, when the parts
are connected, either in succession, as in time, motion, etc., or in extension, as by the dimensions of
space, viz., length, breadth, and thickness.
3. A determinate or estimated amount; a sum or bulk; a certain portion or part; sometimes, a considerable
amount; a large portion, bulk, or sum; as, a medicine taken in quantities, that is, in large quantities.
The quantity of extensive and curious information which he had picked up during many months of desultory,
but not unprofitable, study. Macaulay. Quantity of estate (Law), its time of continuance, or degree of interest, as in fee, for life, or for years.
Wharton (Law Dict. ) — Quantity of matter, in a body, its mass, as determined by its weight, or by
its momentum under a given velocity. — Quantity of motion (Mech.), in a body, the relative amount
of its motion, as measured by its momentum, varying as the product of mass and velocity. — Known
quantities (Math.), quantities whose values are given. — Unknown quantities (Math.), quantities
whose values are sought.
Quantivalence
(Quan*tiv"a*lence) n. [L. quantus how much + E. valence.] (Chem.) Valence. [Archaic]
Quantivalent
(Quan*tiv"a*lent) a. (Chem.) Of or pertaining to quantivalence. [Archaic]
Quantum
(Quan"tum) n.; pl. Quanta [L., neuter of quantus how great, how much. See Quantity,]
1. Quantity; amount. "Without authenticating . . . the quantum of the charges." Burke.
2. (Math.) A definite portion of a manifoldness, limited by a mark or by a boundary. W. K. Clifford.
||Quantum meruit [L., as much as he merited] (Law), a count in an action grounded on a promise that
the defendant would pay to the plaintiff for his service as much as he should deserve. — ||Quantum
sufficit or Quantum suff. [L., as much suffices] (Med.), a sufficient quantity. — ||Quantum valebat
[L., as much at it was worth] (Law), a count in an action to recover of the defendant, for goods sold, as
much as they were worth. Blackstone.
Quap
(Quap) v. i. To quaver. [Obs.] See Quob.
Quaquaversal
(Qua`qua*ver"sal) a. [L. quaqua wheresoever, whithersoever + versus, p. p. of vertere
to turn.]
1. Turning or dipping in any or every direction.
2. (Geol.) Dipping toward all points of the compass round a center, as beds of lava round a crater.
Quar
(Quar) n. A quarry. [Prov. Eng.] B. Jonson.
Quarantine
(Quar"an*tine) n. [F. quarantaine, OF. quaranteine, fr. F. quarante forty, L. quadraginta,
akin to quattuor four, and E. four: cf. It. quarantina, quarentine. See Four, and cf. Quadragesima.]
1. A space of forty days; — used of Lent.
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