| 释义 |
‖ quid pro quo, n.|kwɪd prəʊ kwəʊ|
[L. quid something, pro for, quo (abl. of quid) something.]
1. a. One thing in place of another; orig. and esp. one medicinal substance used for another, either intentionally, fraudulently, or by mistake.
1565J. Calfhill Answ. Martiall 32 b, A leude Apoticarie, that vnderstandeth not his bil, but giueth Quid pro Quo. 1601Holland Pliny II. A vj b, Succedan, that drug which may be used for default of another. The Apothecaries call such Quid pro quo. 1654R. Whitlock Zootomia 60 The Apothecaries themselves, both take, and receive (from Herbe-women) Quid pro Quo, one thing for another, many, many Times. 1738Steward in Phil. Trans. XL. 449 A Mistake.. and a putting of quid pro quo (as 'tis commonly express'd). 1804Edinb. Rev. III. 416 Referring the proximate cause of this disease to a deficiency of azote is only substituting quid pro quo.
b. The action or fact of using or putting one thing for another; the result of this; a mistake or blunder consisting in such a substitution.
1679E. Everard Discourses 35 A Capital quid pro quo of Estate of the most part of the Potentates of Europe. 1687Miege Grt. Fr. Dict., Quid-pro-quo or mistake, un Qui pro quo. 1727–41Chambers Cycl. s.v. Quid. A northern physician, in a printed thesis on quid pro quo's, owns ingenuously, that they are very frequent. 1824Lady Morgan Salvator Rosa I. v. 263 He..produces the most ludicrous quid pro quo's by misapplied erudition, witty absurdities, and naïve questions. 1843Thackeray Misc. Essays (1885) 44 A laughable quid pro quo..occurred to him in a conversation.
†c. One who assumes a false character. Obs.
1689Hickeringill Modest Inquiries ii. 10 Have we not still..some (Quid pro quo's, amongst us) Papists in Masquerade?
2. One thing (or action) in return or exchange for another; tit for tat.
1591Shakes. 1 Hen. VI, v. iii. 109, I cry you mercy, 'tis but Quid for Quo. 1608Middleton Mad World ii. iv. 44 Let him trap me in gold, and I'll lap him in lead; quid pro quo. 1705Hickeringill Priest-cr. iv. (1721) 206 Every Church is the Old-Exchange, Spiritual Things in exchange for Carnal Things; Heaven for Earth; Quid pro Quo. 1727Boyer Dict. Royal II. s.v. Quid. To give one Quid-pro-quo (or tit for tat). 1820Combe Dr. Syntax ii. xxix. (1869) 167, I shall be able..to bestow What you will find a quid pro quo. 1871M. Collins Mrq. & Merch. II. ix. 276 The tradesman gets his quid pro quo.
attrib.1838J. S. Mill in Westm. Rev. Aug. 489 We did not expect that the petite morale almost alone would have been treated, and that with the most pedantic minuteness, and upon the quid pro quo principles which regulate trade. 1861T. A. Trollope La Beata II. xvii. 187 A system of conduct based on the theory of a quid-pro-quo purchase.
3. With substantial elements considered discretely.
1939S. de Madariaga Christopher Columbus xii. 136 The contractual sense, that attitude which sees every event of life as a transaction and expects and demands a definite quid for every quo. 1961Daily Tel. 1 Sept. 12 She could well take all and give nothing in return, pocket the quos as well as the quids. 1979M. McCarthy Cannibals & Missionaries xi. 304 Conditions for the committee's release..had never been ‘aired’... Not a quid or a quo vouchsafed. |