Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Logic An operator that limits the variables of a proposition, as some or all.
- noun Linguistics A word or other constituent that expresses a quantity or contrast in quantity, as some, all, or many.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun grammar  A word , such asall ormany , that expresses aquantity 
- noun logic  The operator , represented by either of the symbols∀ (universal quantifier ) or∃ (existential quantifier ), used inpredicate calculus to indicate the degree thatpredicate is true for a specifiedset .
- noun computing  A symbol or symbols in a regular expression indicating the number ofcharacters to be matched.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun (logic) a word (such as `some' or `all' or `no') that binds the variables in a logical proposition
- noun (grammar) a word that expresses a quantity (as `fifteen' or `many')
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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								˜LF™ (intimating ˜logical form™); and the hypothesized transformation ” called quantifier raising because it targeted the kinds of expressions that indicate Logical Form Pietroski, Paul 2009 
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								They are a “quantifier” and a “bound variable,” a different logical relationship. Singular “they” and the many reasons why it’s correct « Motivated Grammar 2009 
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								Of course typical is a relative term, but I know that it is more accurate than using the quantifier “total” before bullshit. Matthew Yglesias » Journalists, Bloggers, and Status Anxiety 2009 
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								They are a “quantifier” and a “bound variable,” a different logical relationship. 
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								"Some" is an existential quantifier, and so a single computer that acts intelligently without intervention confirms my proposition. Aiguy's Computer 2008 
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								Summary: X times bigger is a completely valid phrase, so long as X is a number/quantifier. 
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								You are trying to negate my proposition ( "No lawlike mechanism can be an intelligent agent") and so a single counter example does nothing for you, because "no" is a universal quantifier. Aiguy's Computer 2008 
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								Summary: X times bigger is a completely valid phrase, so long as X is a number/quantifier. 
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								"Some" is an existential quantifier, and so a single computer that acts intelligently without intervention confirms my proposition. Aiguy's Computer 2008 
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								You are trying to negate my proposition ( "No lawlike mechanism can be an intelligent agent") and so a single counter example does nothing for you, because "no" is a universal quantifier. Aiguy's Computer 2008 
Comments
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