† queryn.1
Obsolete. rare.
Perhaps: a complaint.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > suffering > sorrow or grief > lamentation or expression of grief > [noun] > instance or act of lamenting
moan?c1225
mean?c1250
bimena1325
lamentation1382
queryc1400
pinec1440
tragedy1536
lamentc1592
complaint?1606
conclamation1627
quiritation1634
throb1635
pathetic1667
dismals1774
jeremiad1780
complain1820
tangi1836
Jobism1855
wail1867
rune1922
vigil1956
c1400 (?c1380) Pearl 803 As lombe..So closed he hys mouth fro vch query Quen Juez hym iugged in Jerusalem.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2007; most recently modified version published online June 2021).
queryn.2int.
/ˈkwɪəri/, U.S. /ˈkwɪri/, /ˈkwɛri/α. 1600s quaeree, 1600s–1700s 1900s– quaery; Scottish pre-1700 quaeree, pre-1700 quaerie.
β. 1500s– query, 1600s querijs (plural), 1600s quiery, 1700s querie; Scottish pre-1700 queeree, pre-1700 queree, pre-1700 querries (plural), pre-1700 1700s– query.
A. n.2
1.
a. A question, esp. one expressing some doubt or objection; = quaere n.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > enquiry > [noun] > act or instance of
askOE
askingOE
questionc1350
demandc1386
inquestc1400
interrogationc1405
inquisitionc1440
questioninga1450
inquirea1500
manda1500
terogatores1511
interrogatory1533
inquiry1548
interrogator1561
interrogativea1586
quaere1589
intergatory1590
A1591
Q1591
query1610
interrogate1633
starter1673
querical1699
speer1788
qy.1819
Q1902
α.
β. 1620 J. Rogers Disc. Christian Watchfulnesse 93 Wee make Queries: and put cases, and beate our braines to deceiue our selues against the day of the Lord.a1643 Sir R. Blake in P. Darcy Arg. of 1641 in Camden Misc. (1992) XXXI. 237 I am commanded by the Knights, Citizens, and Burgesses now assembled in Parliament to present unto your Lordships certain queries, that by vote were ordered to be entered among the Acts and Ordinances of that House.1692 R. Bentley Boyle Lect. vi. 25 We are now enabled to give answers to some bold Queries and Objections of Atheists.1719 Boston Newsletter 19–26 Jan. 1/2 The Crimes alledged is, that I..put a Misconstruction upon two Laws, in the third, that I put a query to the Attorney General, whether by a Law for Levying your pay.1767 A. Young Farmer's Lett. 270 It may..admit of a query, Whether the above expences are not too great for the crops to repay?1775 R. Chandler Trav. Asia Minor 133 We would gladly give an answer to such queries but we searched for the site..to little purpose.1813 W. Scott Rokeby i. 15 [He] forced the embarrassed host to buy, By query close, direct reply.1866 ‘G. Eliot’ Felix Holt I. i. 43 She had prepared herself..to suppress all..queries which her son might resent.1921 J. Galsworthy To Let 209 ‘Where are you lunching?’ Something wonderfully uplifting and reassuring in that query and the sight of so many people like themselves voicing it!1937 Life 26 July 23/1 No red flags were in evidence, but the investigators did see ‘communists’ give a Fascist salute in response to a speaker's query.2003 Muscle & Fitness Jan. 30/1 ‘Hey, whadaya bench?’ It's the query that all serious iron-pumpers must respond to.1610 J. Robinson Justif. Separation from Church of Eng. 29 He propounds sundry doubtes and quaeries of his own, which he leaves vnsatisfyed.
a1635 R. Corbet Poems (1807) 63 He that is guilty of no quaery here, Out-lasts his epitaph.
1684 T. Burnet Theory of Earth ii. 218 A great many quæries and difficulties might be proposed relating to the millennium.
1719 T. D'Urfey Wit & Mirth II. 99 What News is the quæry.
1798 S. Shaw Hist. & Antiqs. Staffs. p. vii These MSS. were, for many years, supposed to be lost or destroyed, till my proposals and quæries, in the Gentleman's Magazine..brought them to light again.
1928 Virginia Law Rev. 15 67 Bearing in mind the holding of the instant case, and the quaeries above—Quo Vadimus?
b. In the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers): an item in a formal list of questions issued for the guidance of Friends. Now frequently in Advices and Queries (see advice n. 2b(b)).Apparently used originally of an item in a list of hostile questions directed to the Society of Friends.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > church government > council > Quaker > [noun] > questions issued for guidance > item
query1654
1654 E. Burrough & F. Howgil (title) Answers to severall queries put forth to the despised people called Quakers.
1701 G. Keith Answer to 17 Queries Q. Meeting Quakers at Oxf. 3 Those seventeen Queries ye sent me being only Queries, contain little or nothing Affirmatively or Negatively, by way of position.
1768 in Extracts Minutes Yearly Meeting Friends, London (1783) 269 This meeting directs, that the 11th query remain as it now stands.
1797 Encycl. Brit. XV. 737/2 At the quarterly-meeting are produced written answers from the monthly-meetings, to certain queries respecting the conduct of their members, and the meeting's care over them.
1898 Friends' Q. Examiner 483 For about a century it was uncertain whether the interrogations addressed to the meetings of Friends should be termed ‘questions’ or ‘queries’. The former term was chiefly employed up to 1762, but ‘queries’ has held the field since 1783.
1921 R. M. Jones Later Periods Quakerism I. iv. 134 At first the Queries were formal questions asked for the sake of securing information in reference to the number of members suffering under persecution.
1921 R. M. Jones Later Periods Quakerism I. iv. 135 As fresh moral issues arose,..the list of Queries enlarged. They grew in number and in importance until they embodied almost all the essential aspects of the Quaker moral ideal.
1928 Advices & Queries (Society of Friends) 5 The Queries being directed in recent years to arouse the thought and conscience..rather than to obtain specific information.
1954 H. Loukes Friends face Reality viii. 107 A system of ‘Advices and Queries’, moral and spiritual reflections couched in the form most calculated to set the individual searching his own heart.
2000 M. B. Weddle Walking in Way of Peace 255 (notes) ‘Queries’ were devised as well to promote both collective and individual consideration of how closely their lives expressed the wisdom contained in the advices. Advices and queries are still regularly introduced in rotation at Quaker meetings.
2. A question mark (?), used in writing to indicate a degree of doubt about the accuracy or validity of a following (occasionally, a preceding) word or statement. Also used in speech to express a written question mark of this kind. Cf. qy. int.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > writing > written character > punctuation > [noun] > question mark
interrogation1551
point (mark, note) of interrogation1598
note of interrogation1706
query1836
question mark1862
question-stop1862
punctus interrogativus1952
1709 Dial. between Member of Parl. & Commander of Ship 9 M What is the Meaning of the Letter Q, upon the Navy Books? C It signifies a Query, which is put upon their Names that are put sick ashoar.]
1836 in B. H. Smart Walker Remodelled 505/2 Query, to examine by question; to mark with a query; to doubt of.
1852 Southern Lit. Messenger 52 757/2 We marked the epigram with a ‘query’ at the time of reading it, and have since discovered its origin.
1882 Ogilvie's Imperial Dict. (new ed.) 594/3 Query, the mark or sign of interrogation (?), used to indicate that the sentence preceding it is a question; used also to express a doubt.
1898 M. Beerbohm Around Theatres (1924) I. 2 The examiners..marked my paper ‘gamma-minus-query’.
1920 Times 14 June 11/4 Some one..has climbed onto the School Memorial Hall and chalked a big query mark (?) on one of the pinnacles.
1942 Jrnl. Royal Naval Med. Service 28 21 Admitted with a diagnosis of ‘query’ septicæmia.
1953 R. Lehmann Echoing Grove 61 ‘You reminded me of someone I once knew...’ (Query her sister?)
1967 G. F. Fiennes I tried to run Railway iii. 21 It would have had to be an unwary Hun that let me get near him with my pike—design Circa 1500; origin query Birmingham Small Arms Company.
a1996 P. Godwin Mukiwa (1997) xii. 235 I kept a rudimentary diary in my little green police notebook... On the third night I noted that a snake ‘query, boomslang’ had slithered across my legs that night.
B. int.
Introducing a question, esp. with whether. Cf. quaere int.Often expressed by the abbreviation qy (qy. int.), also qr., qu., or by a question mark.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > enquiry > introducing a question [verb (impersonal)]
quaere?1530
query1653
qu.1657
qy.1819
1653 J. Rogers Ohel or Beth-Shemesh i. xiii. 176 Query, Whether a Member cast out of a Church-society, comes not under secular Cognizance for punishment.
1689 Full Answer Depos. Birth Pr. Wales 7 Query, Whether she did not use to provide a Wet-Nurse, at her other Deliveries.
1732 J. Swift Corr. (1766) II. 690 That..the subscription be..paid into the hands of (query, Mr. Thorn,..a very proper person?).
1743 E. Hoyle Treat. Back-gammon vi. 37 Query, Whether the Probability is for his gammoning me, or not?
1821 Times 4 Dec. 3/1 Query, whether a ‘Peep’ into a certain prison would not tend to diminish the rates of the County of Lancaster?
1888 Notes & Queries 7th Ser. 5 185/2 It was afterwards repurchased by that monarch (but query if purchase money was ever paid).
1945 Michigan Law Rev. 44 485 (note) Quaery: would better faith of the insured have been shown if he had notified the agent?
1953 Michigan Law Rev. 51 1222 (note) Query whether there can be a case of organizational picketing pur et simple?
2004 S. V. Bernard et al. Securities Filings iv. 149 Query whether the general practice of seeking shareholder selection or ratification of auditors will be reconsidered.
Compounds
query language n. Computing a language in which queries are passed to and information retrieved from a database or information system; cf. SQL n.
ΚΠ
1963 Science 18 July 248/3 The sharpness of the retrieval system's query language, and its depth of indexing,..will determine a level of effectiveness that is relatively invariant over changes in the form of the query.
1976 Accounting Rev. 51 71/2 It becomes necessary to describe the query language requirements before a structuring algorithm can be developed.
1996 Internet World May 10/1 The primary tool available for locating files was the Unix grep command, which required you to master an arcane query language.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2007; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
queryv.
/ˈkwɪəri/, U.S. /ˈkwɪri/, /ˈkwɛri/ 1. † c. transitive. To put (a matter) as a question. Obsolete.
a. transitive. With interrogative clause or direct speech as object: to ask, enquire, put a question (whether, if, what, etc.).
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > enquiry > make inquiries [verb (intransitive)]
speerc888
fraynec900
askOE
inquirec1375
demand1382
fraista1400
enspeerc1440
hearken1523
question1584
interrogate1622
query1644
the mind > attention and judgement > enquiry > ask, enquire [verb (transitive)]
fraynea800
speerc888
askOE
fand?c1225
inquirec1290
asearch1382
queerc1390
assay1393
to take knowledge of1399
interrogate1600
quaere1627
query1644
1644 R. Williams Blovdy Tenent cii. 166 It may very well be quaeried how without such a Ministry two or three become a Church?
1650 Sir T. Browne Pseudodoxia Epidemica (ed. 2) v. xxii. 230 We shall not proceed to querie, what truth there is in Palmistrie.
1657 S. Purchas Theatre Flying-insects 15 Some query whether a living creature can subsist without the head.
1721 R. Bradley tr. G. A. Agricola Philos. Treat. Husbandry ii. vi. 284 It may be queried whether, this Work can be done then; I answer it may.
1792 H. H. Brackenridge Mod. Chivalry IV. i. xi. 97 It may be queried, what respectability in the capacity of legislators can such persons have..without the requisite information on state affairs..to make a figure in a public body?
1818 W. Scott Heart of Mid-Lothian i, in Tales of my Landlord 2nd Ser. II. 16 ‘Shall we remove Mr. Butler?’, queried the assistant.
1849 J. G. Whittier Leaves from Margaret Smith's Jrnl. in Prose Wks. (1889) I. 64 On my querying whether any did find treasures hereabout, my aunt laughed.
1905 Smart Set Sept. 119/2 ‘Been here long?’ I queried.
1976 B. Freemantle November Man iii. 38 ‘The elections?’ queried Hollis.
1994 D. Healy Goat's Song xiv. 160 ‘You must have had an active life,’ queried the shopkeeper, ‘before you retired?’
b. intransitive. To ask a question or questions; to doubt.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > belief > uncertainty, doubt, hesitation > doubt, be uncertain [verb (intransitive)]
tweonc897
to be at or in weeningc1275
doubtc1325
dreadc1400
vary1477
swither1535
stay1583
to have or make scruple of1600
demur1612
demurea1616
hesitate1623
Nicodemize1624
scruple1639
scrupulize1642
query1647
to make doubt1709
to have scruples1719
to have weres1768
mislippen1816
dubitate1837
1647 Last Will Sir Iohn Presbyter 3 They may be the better encouraged to Query against the Army, to raile against Independents, to roote out Monarchy.
1720 Bibliotheca Biblica I. 394 He queried, and reason'd thus with himself.
1728 A. Pope Dunciad ii. 335 Each prompt to query, answer, and debate.
1740 tr. Æsop Fables 58 When they come to querying and riddling upon it, with an If it be so and so, the Scandal of the Supposition is not to be borne.
1814 Ld. Byron Let. 15 Sept. (1830) I. 582 A passenger took up the book and queried as to the author.
1871 J. W. De Forest Overland xvii. 88 Coronado's eyes were filmy and incomprehensible; he was planning, querying, fearing, almost trembling.
1915 J. Conrad Victory i. i. 7 He proceeded to query in a slow, paternal tone.
1992 D. Seymour & T. Seymour America's Best Classrooms Pref. p. xii We snooped and pried, queried and coaxed, all in an effort to get a grassroots perspective on the workings of the educational system.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > enquiry > ask, enquire [verb (transitive)] > put as a question
question1481
interrogate1654
query1658
1658 Narr. Late Parl. 21 The like may be queried concerning the swordsmens capacity to sit.
1661 J. Glanvill Vanity of Dogmatizing 188 It's queried whether there be any Science in the sense of the Dogmatists.
1726 G. Berkeley Let. 12 Oct. in A. C. Fraser Life (1871) iv. 136 I do..entreat you to answer all that I have queried on that head.
1755 B. Martin Mag. Arts & Sci. 130 I..shall suspend what I have further to query 'till To-morrow.
2. transitive. To question (a person). Now chiefly U.S.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > enquiry > interrogation > question, interrogate [verb (transitive)]
afraynec1380
speera1400
refraynea1450
searcha1450
questiona1470
interrogate1483
interrogue1484
demanda1513
pose1526
ferret1582
shrive1592
samen?1620
query1653
quiza1843
hackle1891
rag1908
1653 J. Rogers Ohel or Beth-Shemesh ii. iv. 291 Once in Dublin, a sister..was thus quaeried with, by the Churches appointment, and answering at first very fearfully, and uncertainly.
1654 E. Gayton Pleasant Notes Don Quixot iii. v. 97 The Don..assaults the first pittifull Scout..whom he should have quærid in this manner.
1690 J. Child Disc. Trade i. 13 So I have been assured by many antient Men whom I have queried particularly as to this matter.
1727 Suppl. 2nd Ed. of Case of John Simson 30 The professor had refused to satisfy the presbytery of Glasgow when queried by them anent this.
1861 Flag of our Union 27 Apr. 6/2 Button-holing Frank in the street, just after the first fall of snow, I queried him thus: ‘Whither this winter, my friend?’
1892 J. Murdoch From Austral. & Japan vi. 163 He..began to query her about the financial part of the business.
1943 Sun (Baltimore) 30 Nov. 10/7 He queries me concerning the passage.
1974 Spartanburg (S. Carolina) Herald 18 Apr. a6/2 College Students..who were queried at Iowa State University, have some curious ideas about what ‘academic freedom’ means.
2004 Nat. Jrnl. 13 Mar. 768/1 The insiders were queried about whether Kerry would need to be competitive in at least a handful of states in the South.
3.
a. transitive. To call (a thing) into question; to mark as doubtful, question the correctness of.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > belief > uncertainty, doubt, hesitation > doubt [verb (transitive)] > raise doubts
impugn1362
contrary1586
surmisea1609
question1622
query1727
1727 Poll 18 Aug. in R. Holoway Case of Mr. Richard Holoway (?1727) 24 The Four Votes above queried [i.e. marked with the letter Q], appear'd not to be good Votes.
1773 Ann. Reg. 1772 54/2 The returning officer..had queried 76 [votes].
1817 I. D'Israeli Curiosities of Lit. 1st Ser. III. 156 Sir John..afterwards came to doubt it with a sed de hoc quære—query this!
1863 J. Scott Let. 26 July–2 Aug. in C. Darwin Corr. (1999) XI. 565 One of the packets of Red you will observe queried; this may chance to be from the White variety; having neglected to name when I gathered contents.
1961 L. Gribble Wantons die Hard xiii. 161 ‘I'm playing this by ear,’ he grunted once when the American queried the devious route he was following.
1974 C. Hampton Savages (1976) xiv. 70 But he said that was the Company's final decision And it wasn't for him to query it.
2005 Psychologies (U.K. ed.) Dec. 80/3 The McDonald's-isation of our culture..has led us to query our own authenticity.
b. transitive. To question, doubt (if, whether, etc.)
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > belief > uncertainty, doubt, hesitation > doubt [verb (transitive)]
doubta1400
question1533
misdoubt?c1550
scrupulize1625
scruple1641
demur1667
suspect1698
query1815
1815 W. H. Ireland Scribbleomania 140 I very much query if two, and sometimes three of Sonini's Alpine pictures were not condensed into one by the author.
1847 G. B. Cheever Wanderings Pilgrim xii. 86 I queried much whether I should take a cloak.
a1898 M. A. Dodge tr. J. W. von Goethe in Chips, Fragments & Vestiges (1902) 69 I query if she knew Whether the sea were red or blue.
1959 J. M. S. Tompkins Art Rudyard Kipling i. 10 Untravelled critics questioned the authenticity of Dick's colouring and queried if his work was art.
1995 Trans. Royal Hist. Soc. 6th Ser. 5 1 They..queried whether Albany had ever been equated with the whole of what we know as Scotland.
Derivatives
ˈqueryist n. rare = querist n.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > enquiry > [noun] > an enquirer, questioner
asker?c1225
questioner?a1425
querorc1450
speererc1480
inquirer?c1570
querist1633
querier1672
inquirist1748
queryist1863
1863 Reader 19 Dec. 729 A queryist in the American Publishers' Circular.
1996 K. Sparck Jones & J. R. Galliers Evaluating Nat. Lang. Processing Systems i. 16 (table) Role & category: queryist, habitual.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2007; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1c1400
n.2int.1610
v.1644