Log in or Sign up

Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. v. To put down forcibly; suppress: Police quelled the riot.
  2. v. To pacify; quiet: finally quelled the children's fears.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. To cause to die; put to death; kill; slay.
  2. To cause to cease; subdue; crush: as, to quell an insurrection.
  3. To reduce to peace or inaction; quiet; allay.
  4. To dash out; destroy.
  5. Synonyms To overpower, put down, lay, smother.
  6. To calm, compose.
  7. To die; perish.
  8. To abate.
  9. n. Murder.
  10. n. Power or means of quelling or subduing.
  11. To well or flow out.
  12. n. A spring; a fountain; a source from which water wells out.

Wiktionary

  1. v. To overpower; to subdue; to put down.
  2. v. To quiet; to allay; to pacify; to cause to yield or cease.
  3. v. To take the life of; to kill.
  4. v. To be subdued or abated; to yield; to abate.
  5. n. A spring or fountain.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. v. To die.
  2. v. To be subdued or abated; to yield; to abate.
  3. v. To take the life of; to kill.
  4. v. To overpower; to subdue; to put down.
  5. v. To quiet; to allay; to pacify; to cause to yield or cease
  6. n. Murder.

WordNet 3.0

  1. v. overcome or allay
  2. v. suppress or crush completely

Etymologies

  1. Middle English quellen, to kill, from Old English cwellan; see gwelə- in Indo-European roots.

Examples

  • “Errahman, and Vizier and Sultan amuse themselves by undertaking plundering expeditions against insurrectionary tribes, whose sedition they first stimulate, and then quell, that is to say, by receiving from the unlucky rebels a handsome gratification.”

    Travels in Morocco

  • “November, Sony Music issued a track called quell rumours that some of Jackson's vocals on the album were "fake".”

    The Guardian World News

  • “I think actually he reached out very aggressively basically to the right during the campaign, kind of quell these fears that he was soft on Israel.”

    CNN Transcript Dec 30, 2008

  • “Is the expectation is he is trying to kind of quell that emotional outburst?”

    CNN Transcript Jan 2, 2008

  • “The only way to "quell" al Queda and other terrorist organisations is to send black ops to destroy the terrorist cells and so called "madrasas" that are teaching twisted definitions of shahid and jihad.”

    The New American

  • “Some critics of the federal government plans involving local police agencies and churches cite FEMA's attempt to "quell" dissent and facilitate the confiscation of guns from private citizens.”

    Infowars

  • “Thus, as we have noted, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, a practicing Mormon, had to quell concerns about his religion during his presidential bid in 2008.”

    Simon & Schuster: American Grace

  • “But once it was official, they were individually summoned onto a stage to discuss their Hall of Fame inclusion, they both had to stop in mid-sentence on several occasions in an attempt to quell the tear drops.”

    Jerry Rice, Emmitt Smith lead NFL's 2010 Hall of Fame class

  • “For instance, virtually all teams, even at the very highest level, will, when the opponents are attacking and one of the defenders can get his foot on the ball, will simply whack it, hard, up the field to quell the danger.”

    The Volokh Conspiracy » 2010 » March

  • “Demonstrators led by students demanding cheaper and better state education blocked roads and lit fires as police used water cannons and tear gas to quell the latest outcry against the conservative billionaire.”

    The Guardian: Chile hit by violent protests

Show 10 more examples...

Lists

These user-created lists contain the word ‘quell’.

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • chained_bear The shampoo, I believe, is spelled "Kwell."

    Been a long time since I had head lice though. May 21, 2009

  • bilby If the current Pope said it, it would sound like qvell. May 21, 2009

  • jfk Might I suggest a medicated shampoo May 21, 2009

  • qroqqa Sorry I'm late, sir, I was quelling a native with, ah, quells.
    —Capt. Hugh Jampton, 'The Battle of Spion Kop', The Goon Show May 21, 2009

  • rolig What a lovely word. It magnificently holds inside itself the quiet it seeks to establish. May 21, 2009

  • thenike5 ex.- Mr. Del Valle quelled the classroom commotion by banging his chair several times on the floor. May 21, 2009

‘quell’ has been looked up 3331 times, loved by 6 people, added to 94 lists, commented on 6 times, and has a Scrabble score of 14.