| 释义 |
▪ I. quirk, n.1|kwɜːk|
Also 6 quircke, queerk, 6–7 quirke, 6–9 querk, 7 quirck, quer(c)ke, quirt, (qirk).
[Of obscure origin and history; app. native in western dialects.
The original sense was prob. as in 6, whence on the one hand the techn. and dial. uses in 7, in which the ‘quirk’ is in some material thing, and on the other hand the literary uses in 1–5, referring to mental operations, modes of action, etc. The earliest trace of the word appears in Salesbury's Welsh Dict. (1547), where Kwyrk-hosan is given as the W. equivalent of Eng. clock (see 7 a); the term is still current in Wales, but its form proves it to be from Eng.]
1. a. A verbal trick, subtlety, shift or evasion; a quibble, quibbling argument.
1565T. Stapleton Fortr. Faith 100* Not vpon quirkes and suttelties in matters indifferent. 1566Drant Horace, Sat. i. v. C iij b, The quiddityes and queerks of logique darke. 1583Stubbes Anat. Abus. ii. (1882) 46 They inuente quirckes and quiddities, shiftes, and put-offes ynough to blinde the eies of the magistrates. 1625W. Pemble Justification (1629) 190 The shifting quercke of a schoolemans braine. 1678R. L'Estrange Seneca's Mor. (1702) 131 Not with Syllogisms or Quirks of Wit; but with plain and weighty Reason. 1711E. Ward Vulgus Brit. ii. 132 Perverting solid Sense, With artful Querks and Impudence. 1782Cowper Progr. Err. 550 His still refuted quirks he still repeats. 1814D'Israeli Quarrels Auth. (1867) 251 A true feeling of religion does not depend on the quirks and quibbles of human reasonings. 1878Browning Poets Croisic cxxx, In vain the Chevalier beat brain for quirk To help in this conjuncture.
Comb.1802–12Bentham Ration. Judic. Evid. (1827) IV. 386 The quirk-abjuring ejaculation..of lord Hale.
b. The employment of quirks; quibbling.
1674N. Fairfax Bulk & Selv. 173 This indeed smells pretty strong of quirk, but relishes as faintly as may be of reason. 1796C. Smith Marchmont IV. 221 His fears lest chicane and quirk..should deprive Althea..of the two thousand pounds. 1839Carlyle Chartism v. (1858) 25 Shiftiness, quirk, attorney-cunning..fancies itself..to be talent.
2. A clever or witty turn or conceit; a quip.
1599Shakes. Much Ado ii. i. 245, I may chance haue some odde quirkes and remnants of witte broken on mee. 1633T. Adams Exp. 2 Peter i. 4 It is not enough to have quirks of wit, but soundness of doctrine. 1699Bentley Phal. iii. 145 His Quirks and Witticisms upon Me are all grafted upon his own mistakes. 1794Godwin Cal. Williams 28 Your rhymes and your rebusses, your quirks and your conundrums. 1835Marryat Jac. Faithf. xxvii, He had a quiz and a quirk for everybody that passed. 1882L. Campbell Life Clerk Maxwell ii. 31 He must..enliven it with some quirk of fancy.
3. Mus. A sudden turn; a fantastic phrase. rare.
1579Gosson Sch. Abuse (Arb.) 28 How many noates, how many restes, how many querks. 1731Pope Ep. Burlington 143 Light quirks of Music, broken and uneven. 1883Lathrop Span. Vistas 126 The quirks of the melody are not unlike those of very old English ballads.
4. a. A trick or peculiarity in action or behaviour; † a knack, a fad.
1601Shakes. Twel. N. iii. iv. 268, I have heard of some kinde of men that put quarreles purposely on others, to taste their valour; belike this is a man of that quirke. a1635Corbet Poems (1807) 100 He hath besides a pretty quirk..how to work In iron with much ease. 1656Earl of Monmouth tr. Boccalini's Advts. fr. Parnass. i. xli. (1674) 54 Having their heads full of querks and new inventions. 1791J. Learmont Poems 42 He is..markin' out some dyke, or drainin' Wi' mony a quirk. a1864Hawthorne Amer. Note-bks. (1879) I. 136 His manner was full of quirks. 1868L. M. Alcott Lit. Women (1869) I. iii. 44 How do you learn all the proper quirks?
b. A peculiar feature or result (of an event); a peculiarity, an anomaly, a freak.
1961Yale Rev. LI. 190 It is one of the ironic quirks of history that the viability and usefulness of nationalism and the territorial state are rapidly dissipating at precisely the time that the nation-state attained its highest number. 1973A. H. Sommerstein Sound Pattern Anc. Gr. ii. 74 The other two rules..are mere quirks, survivals that play no active role in the system of the language, but merely go on existing. 1976Scotsman 20 Nov. (Weekend Suppl.), In the San Blas Islands, off the coast of Panama, they found that through a quirk of history they had come a step closer to home. 1976Star (Sheffield) 29 Nov. 12/7 Perhaps..it was something of an unfortunate quirk of the draw that they had to meet in the first round of the Roebuck Cup.
5. A fit, start, sudden stroke.
1601Shakes. All's Well iii. ii. 51, I haue felt so many quirkes of ioy and greefe. 1928Galsworthy Swan Song ii. x. 188 That indefinable look of a damned soul..awakened within Soames..the queerest little quirk of sympathy.
6. A sudden twist, turn, or curve; esp. in drawing or writing: A flourish.
1605B. Jonson Volpone iii. vii, Some yong Frenchman..That..Knew euery quirke within lusts laborinth. 1840Thackeray George Cruikshank Wks. 1900 XIII. 309 These little dots and specks, and fantastical quirks of the pencil. 1860Bushnell in Life xx. (1880) 437 Write a large, full, regular, and free hand. Bring in no quirks and flourishes.
7. techn. or dial.
a. In a stocking = clock n.2
1547[see etym. note]. 1583Stubbes Anat. Abus. i. E iij b, Then haue they nether-stocks to these gay hosen..with quirks and clocks about the ancles. [1834J. R. Planché Brit. Costume 260 Hose..with quirks, clocks, open seams.] 1879–In dial. glossaries (Chesh., Shropsh., Som., etc.).
b. A diamond-shaped piece of leather inserted at the junction of the fingers with the palm in some makes of gloves.
1688R. Holme Armoury iii. 18/1 Of a Glove..the Querks, the little square peeces at the bottom of the Fingers. 1881Oxfordshire Gloss. Suppl., Quirks, the bits between the fingers of leather gloves, where they open.
c. A piece added to, or taken from, a regular figure, or cut out of a certain surface (see quots.).
1679Moxon Mech. Exerc. I. 130 If either a Quirk or any Addition be added to the Building, on any side of your Ground-plot, you must describe it also proportionably. 1688R. Holme Armoury iii. 110/2 A square being struck into four parts, one of those parts in Carpentry Terms is called a Quirk. 1842Francis Dict. Arts s.v., The irregular garden beds, cut out of grass lawns, are..as truly quirks as any other example that can be adduced.
d. An irregular pane of glass (see quots.).
1688R. Holme Armoury iii. 385/2 Querke, is a nook shoten Pane, or any Pane whose sides and top run out of a square form. 1847–78Halliwell, Quirk,..a pane of glass cut at the sides and top in the form of a rhomb.
e. Arch. An acute hollow between the convex part of certain mouldings and the soffit or fillet. Also attrib. or as adj.
1799A. Young View Agric. Lincoln 29 Window shutters quirk, ogee and astragal with 1/4 and 2 heights and 4 panels, at 12 d. 1816J. Smith Panorama Sc. & Art I. 173 The Grecian mouldings are often..worked with a small return, technically called a quirk. 1836Parker Gloss. Archit. (1850) I. 379 In Gothic architecture quirks are abundantly used between mouldings. 1842Gwilt Encycl. Archit. §2367 A two-panel door, square on one side, with quirk ovolo and bead upon the other. 1876T. Hardy Ethelberta v, Along fillet, quirk, arris, and moulding. 1882Nodal & Milner Gloss. Lancs. Dial. 220 Querk, sb., a moulding in joinery. 1966J. Fleming et al. Penguin Dict. Archit. 181/2 Quirk, a sharp v-shaped incision in a moulding and between mouldings.
8. Comb. quirk-float, a plasterer's float used for angles; quirk-moulding, a moulding with a quirk or sharp return (Crabb, 1823); hence quirk-moulded ppl. adj.
1833Loudon Encycl. Archit. 1129/2 Quirk moulding, a quirk in a moulding signifies a sharp turn. 1842Gwilt Encycl. Archit. §2368 Shutters... Add ·016 to the rate for every extra panel, and ·012 for any extra height, and ·008 if they are quirk moulded. 1842–59Ibid. §2242 Floats are of three sorts: the hand float..; the quirk float, which is used on or in angles; and the Derby.
▪ II. † quirk, n.2 R.A.F. slang. Obs.|kwɜːk|
[Perh. f. prec.: cf. erk.]
a. An inexperienced airman.
1916Daily Chron. 13 Oct. 4/5 The quirk becomes used to the handling of the craft..until..the instructor allows him to fly the machine himself. 1917Sunday Times 20 May 8/4 ‘Quirks’, it may be explained, are young enemy aviators in an embryonic stage. 1918E. C. Middleton Glorious Exploits Air ii. 33 Once he has his air-legs there is little the ‘hun’ or ‘quirk’—Service terms for beginners—does not feel himself capable of tackling. 1919Glasgow Herald 19 Dec. 14/2 The..airman..uses the word ‘quirk’ in two senses, first to denote the learner's aeroplane, the clanging, clattering ‘rumpty’ of his youth, or, secondly to denote the learner himself. 1928C. F. S. Gamble Story N. Sea Air Station ix. 133 The pilot, a very harmless, innocent ‘quirk’, hardly fledged, straight from Chingford. 1931[see kiwi 3].
b. (See quot. 1925.)
1917‘Contact’ Airman's Outings 128 The ferry-pilot who had brought me left for Rafborough almost immediately on a much-flown ‘quirk’. 1917Let. Apr. in A. J. L. Scott 60 Squad (1920) iii. 49 One place was pointed out to us where there was an old ‘quirk’. [Note] A pet name used for artillery machines of the B.E. type. 1919[see prec. sense]. 1925Fraser & Gibbons Soldier & Sailor Words 234 Quirk,..a name for a ‘B.E.’ type of aeroplane; very stable, but very slow. Also any freak type, or unusually designed aeroplane.
▪ III. quirk, v.1|kwɜːk|
[f. quirk n.1]
1. a. trans. To assail with quirks or quips. b. intr. To use quirks or quips. Also with it.
1596Nashe Saffron Walden 41 Not so much to quirke or crosse me thereby, as to blesse himselfe. 1599― Lenten Stuffe Wks. 1883–4 V. 307 Wee shall haue some spawne of a goose-quill..quirking and girding. 1823Blackw. Mag. XIII. 673 Merely quirking it upon the strength of a dozen or two hard words.
2. trans. To form or furnish with a quirk; to groove. Usually in pa. pple.
1842–59Gwilt Archit. §2106 When a bead is stuck so that it does not on the section merely fall in with its square returns, but leaves a space..between the junctions at the sides, it is said to be quirked. 1886Elworthy W. Somerset Word-bk., Quirk,..used by carpenters and stonemasons. To form a narrow groove, usually in a moulding.
3. a. To move in a sudden and jerky manner. [Perh. an independent formation.]
1821Clare Vill. Minstr. II. 33 We saw many a mouse Quirking round for the kernels. [See also quirking ppl. a.] 1876G. Meredith Beauch. Career xiv, That is the thing to set an audience bounding and quirking. 1948G. H. Johnston Death takes Small Bites i. 8 Her mouth quirked with tiny crinkles of amusement. 1958S. Ellin Eighth Circle ii. xx. 159 ‘I really am better. Just a little weak in the knees, that's all.’ Her lips quirked in a pale smile. ‘You must think I'm pretty much of a mess, don't you?’ 1975L. Gillen Return to Deepwater ii. 28 His wide mouth quirked briefly into an answering smile.
b. trans. To move (something) jerkily.
1978J. Krantz Scruples viii. 222 He quirked one eyebrow at Billy.
▪ IV. quirk, v.2 dial.|kwɜːk|
Also querk.
[Imitative.]
To grunt, groan, croak, etc.; to grumble. So quirking ppl. a.
1746Exmoor Scolding (E.D.S.) 43 Thee art a crewnting, querking,..chockling Baggage. 1787Grose Prov. Gloss., Quirking, Complaining. Wilts. 1830Miss Mitford Village Ser. iv. (1863) 195 The poor little lass..sighed, and quirked, and fidgeted, and seemed ready to cry. 1886–In dial. glossaries (Surrey, Berks, Wilts, Som., etc.). 1894E. H. Barker Two Summers in Guyenne 289 Green frogs..quirked defiance from the banks. 1946J. W. Day Harvest Adventure vii. 94 Mallard and querking teal.
▪ V. quirk
var. quirt n. |