Part 704

Pyx cloth (R. C. Ch.), a veil of silk or lace covering the pyx. -- Trial of the pyx, the annual testing, in the English mint, of the standard of gold and silver coins. Encyc. Brit.

Pyx, v. t. To test as to weight and fineness, as the coins deposited in the pyx. [Eng.] Mushet.

Pyx"i*date (?), a. Having a pyxidium.

||Pyx*id"i*um (?), n.; pl. Pyxidia (#). [NL., fr. Gr. &?;, dim. a &?; a ||box. See Pyx.] (Bot.) (a) A pod which divides circularly into an ||upper and lower half, of which the former acts as a kind of lid, as ||in the pimpernel and purslane. (b) The theca of mosses.

Pyx"ie (pks"), n. (Bot.) Same as Pixy.

||Pyx*is (?), n. [L.] 1. A box; a pyx.

2. (Bot.) A pyxidium.

3. (Anat.) The acetabulum. See Acetabulum, 2.

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Q (k), the seventeenth letter of the English alphabet, has but one sound (that of k), and is always followed by u, the two letters together being sounded like kw, except in some words in which the u is silent. See Guide to Pronunciation, ß 249. Q is not found in Anglo-Saxon, cw being used instead of qu; as in cwic, quick; cwen, queen. The name (k) is from the French ku, which is from the Latin name of the same letter; its form is from the Latin, which derived it, through a Greek alphabet, from the Phúnician, the ultimate origin being Egyptian.

Etymologically, q or qu is most nearly related to a (ch, tch), p, q, and wh; as in cud, quid, L. equus, ecus, horse, Gr. &?;, whence E. equine, hippic; L. quod which, E. what; L. aquila, E. eaqle; E. kitchen, OE. kichene, AS. cycene, L. coquina.

Qua (?), conj. [L., abl. of qui who.] In so far as; in the capacity or character of; as.

It is with Shelley's biographers qua biographers that we have to deal.

London Spectator.

Quab (?), n. [Cf. D. kwab eelpout, Dan. quabbe, G. quabbe, quappe, LG. quabbe a fat lump of flesh, and L. capito a kind of fish with a large head, fr. caput the head, also E. squab.] An unfledged bird; hence, something immature or unfinished. Ford.

Quab, v. i. See Quob, v. i.

Qua"-bird` (?), n. (Zoˆl.) The American night heron. See under Night.

Qua"cha (?), n. (Zoˆl.) The quagga.

Quack (?), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Qvacked (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Quacking.] [Of imitative origin; cf. D. kwaken, G. quacken, quaken, Icel. kvaka to twitter.]

1. To utter a sound like the cry of a duck.

2. To make vain and loud pretensions; to boast. " To quack of universal cures." Hudibras.

3. To act the part of a quack, or pretender.

Quack, n. 1. The cry of the duck, or a sound in imitation of it; a hoarse, quacking noise. Chaucer.

2. [Cf. Quacksalver.] A boastful pretender to medical skill; an empiric; an ignorant practitioner.

3. Hence, one who boastfully pretends to skill or knowledge of any kind not possessed; a charlatan.

Quacks political; quacks scientific, academical.

Carlyle.

Quack, a. Pertaining to or characterized by, boasting and pretension; used by quacks; pretending to cure diseases; as, a quack medicine; a quack doctor.