Q

QUADRIROTAL :  adj  having four wheels

. . . the stopped lines of impotent, quadrirotal man.

--Fowles, Daniel Martin, p. 63.

QUAG :  noun  grass or turf over a mire or marsh

There's the sink; there's the quag; there's the slough of my despond.

--Barth, Chimera, p. 204.

QUAQUAVERSAL :  adj  going off in all directions

. . . quaquaversal thoroughfares. . . .

--Theroux, Three Wogs, p. 68.

QUEAN :  noun  a prostitute, whore, or harlot. See also ANORECTIC

. . . those tightly fleshed and loosely moraled queans.

--Barth, Giles Goat-Boy, p. 402.

For 'tis rare queen these days can be told from a quean.

--Berger, Arthur Rex, p. 198.

QUIDDITY :  noun  essence, whatever makes something what it is. See also ENTELECHY

. . . The feel of grass when he hunkered down, rolling a ball to Mark, had such quiddity, such authority, one might have imagined time had stopped, and the sacramental moment toward which everything tended had arrived.

--Gardner, Mickelsson's Ghosts, pp. 172-173.

. . . to draw the sword of quiddity from the scabbard of prevarication and come to the point, from whence do you return?

--Lloyd-Jones, Lord of the Dance, p. 45.

QUIDDLE :  verb  to fiddle or diddle idly

It made Victor, who was quiddling his foreskin while sipping his coffee, look at me cross-eyed. . . .

--Davenport, "On Some Lines of Virgil,"
Eclogues, p. 161.

QUIDNUNC :  noun  Latin for "what now?"; a person overly occupied with trivial curiosity

. . . anti-intellectual rest homes which taught overadvantaged quidnuncs how to wear rep ties and smile. . . .

--Theroux, Darconville's Cat, p. 38.

QUIM :  noun  cunt. See COYNTE. Compare COUN, COUNTRY MATTERS, DELTA, FOTZEPOLITIK, FURBELOW, MERKIN, QUIMTESSENCE

QUIMTESSENCE :  noun  the essence of womanhood, from a male perspective. See COYNTE. Compare COUN, COUNTRY MATTERS, DELTA, FOTZEPOLITIK, FURBELOW, MERKIN, QUIM

QUINCUNX :  noun  an arrangement of five things, with one at each corner of a square and one in the center, as the five on a die or playing card

Quatrefages knew the whereabouts of the orchard with its fabled quincunx of trees?

--Durrell, Constance, p. 178.

QUINQUANGLE :  noun  something with five corners, a pentagon

Surrounding the bed was a quinquangle of mirrored screens in which I saw myself reflected many times over.

--Lloyd-Jones, Lord of the Dance, p. 129.

QUISQUILIAE :  noun  Latin for "garbage"

. . . yahoos all ferreting and rummaging in the quisquiliae of time, making books out of a judicious mixture of other books, and carrying owls to Athens.

--Theroux, Darconville's Cat, p. 413.

QUISQUOUS :  adj  difficult to deal with or settle. Compare BATRACHOMYOMACHIA, FRATCH, TIRRIT

. . . quisquous, trifling matters better off forgotten. . . .

--Gardner, Jason and Medeia, p. 133.

QUONDAM :  adj  former, once but no longer

. . . conversion to Rome appears to be the fashion. . . . Quondam leading Reds or professional atheists. Uneasy Episcopalian ministers.

--Cozzens, By Love Possessed, p. 223.

The word quondam squats on the lilypad too, daring you to try to stare it out of countenance.

--DeVries, Consenting Adults, p. 52.

QUOPPING :  noun  a throbbing, a thumping

. . . the terrible quopping of her heart.

--Gardner, Jason and Medeia, p. 33.

QUOTIDIAN :  adj  daily

The word quotidian sits on the printed page and stares at you with those big awful frog's eyes, defying you to stare back.

--DeVries, Consenting Adults, p. 51.