Definitions
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To shake; stir; move.
- To stir; move.
- To flinch; shrink.
- n. Same as quitch-grass.
Wiktionary
- v. transitive, obsolete To shake; stir; move.
- v. intransitive, obsolete To stir; move.
- v. intransitive To flinch; shrink.
- n. A species of grass, often considered as a weed.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Bot.) Same as quitch grass.
- n. Figuratively: A vice; a taint; an evil.
Etymologies
- From Old English cwice, from Middle Low German kweke. Cognate with German Quecke, Dutch kweek. (Wiktionary)
Examples
“Isch. And if a gang of men set to, to break and make this fallow with the mattock, it is transparent that their business is to separate the quitch grass from the soil and keep them parted?”
“Just so! — to throw the quitch grass down to wither on the surface, and to turn the soil up, so that the crude earth may have its turn of baking.”
“The buoyant sound of the brass was seen as quitch, an artifact from the distant past.”
“Both grace and will to pick the vicious quitch [6]”
“All the things his father, old Kla-quitch, the medicine-man, used to do were nothing to this.”
The Penance of Magdalena & Other Tales of the California Missions
“Well, he would go on: probably the well-remembered name of Kla-quitch would make it all right.”
The Penance of Magdalena & Other Tales of the California Missions
“He would avoid surprising any stragglers at the next village, and would get into touch with the head men, explaining that he was the long-lost son of Kla-quitch, who had escaped after all these years from the Mission, and had come back, learned in all the knowledge of the white men and armed further with this most wonderful appliance of magic, to take his place as hereditary medicine-man of his tribe.”
The Penance of Magdalena & Other Tales of the California Missions
“What was Kla-quitch, with his painted sticks and bones, compared with him, if only he were the possessor of this marvel!”
The Penance of Magdalena & Other Tales of the California Missions
“He could hear the people calling to one another from their spots of refuge, and ever the burden of the shout was either "Kla-quitch!" or "Yellow!”
The Penance of Magdalena & Other Tales of the California Missions
“Kla-quitch (who, it was naturally supposed, had appeared and announced his return from the spirit world); but it was far from being what his son and intending successor had hoped.”
The Penance of Magdalena & Other Tales of the California Missions
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘quitch’.
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11184 more...
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phrontistery - q
from phrontistery.info
quoz, quotuple, quotum, quotition, quotiety, quotidian, quotha, quotennial, quotatious, quorate, quondam, quomodocunquize and 227 more...
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Davenport
words looked up recently from reading Guy Davenport
flenite, sampan, provender, comitatus, cycladic, surd, scialytic, lignite, plangencies, fugal, zamindary, macaque and 112 more...
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Figuratively
Words with definitions containing "figuratively."
spore, plunge, fulminate, rasp, hinge, niche, breathe, approach, hammer, rain, butcher, dazzle and 132 more...
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Grasses
Grasses, and words about grasses.
Prairie grasses names are found in this list.
Names of medical marijuana strains can be found elsewhere.cheatgrass, downy brome, chess, brome, bronco-grass, graminoid, grassland, phytolith, steppe, tallgrass prairie, sword grass, panicle and 323 more...
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learning
A list of words whose meanings I am learning, either because a) I don't know the meaning b) I know the meaning, but could stand to better appreciate certain inflections or secondary meanings or c) ...
louche, educe, loam, cob, sclerotic, palliate, axial, syndicalist, ecumenical, sally, fatuous, parvenu and 1381 more...
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Accurst
Curses and spiritual warfare.
evil eye, diablerie, katadesmoi, voodoo doll, drishti, glamour, geis, shrap, hoodoo, jinx, curse, curse stone and 78 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for quitch.
jaime_d From "C. Musonius Rufus" by Guy Davenport Jan 19, 2010