Part 739

2. Without tumult, alarm, dispute, or disturbance; peaceably; as, to live quietly; to sleep quietly.

3. Calmly, without agitation or violent emotion; patiently; as, to submit quietly to unavoidable evils.

4. Noiselessly; silently; without remark or violent movement; in a manner to attract little or no observation; as, he quietly left the room.

Qui"et*ness, n. The quality or state of being quiet; freedom from noise, agitation, disturbance, or excitement; stillness; tranquillity; calmness.

I would have peace and quietness.

Shak.

Qui"et*some (?), a. Calm; still. [Obs.] Spenser.

Qui"e*tude, n. [L. quietudo: cf. F. quiÈtude.] Rest; repose; quiet; tranquillity. Shelley.

Qui*e"tus (?), n. [LL. quietus quit, discharged, L., at rest, quiet, dead. See Quiet, a., and cf. Quit, a.] Final discharge or acquittance, as from debt or obligation; that which silences claims; (Fig.) rest; death.

When he himself might his quietus make With a bare bodkin.

Shak.

Quill (?), n. [Perhaps fr. F. quille ninepin (see Kayless); but cf. also G. kiel a quill. MHG. kil, and Ir. cuille a quill.] 1. One of the large feathers of a bird's wing, or one of the rectrices of the tail; also, the stock of such a feather.

2. A pen for writing made by sharpening and splitting the point or nib of the stock of a feather; as, history is the proper subject of his quill. Sir H. Wotton.

3. (Zoˆl.) (a) A spine of the hedgehog or porcupine. (b) The pen of a squid. See Pen.

4. (Mus.) (a) The plectrum with which musicians strike the strings of certain instruments. (b) The tube of a musical instrument.

He touched the tender stops of various quills.

Milton.

5. Something having the form of a quill; as: (a) The fold or plain of a ruff. (b) (Weaving) A spindle, or spool, as of reed or wood, upon which the thread for the woof is wound in a shuttle. (c) (Mach.) A hollow spindle.

Quill bit, a bit for boring resembling the half of a reed split lengthways and having its end sharpened like a gouge. -- Quill driver, one who works with a pen; a writer; a clerk. [Jocose] -- Quill nib, a small quill pen made to be used with a holder. Simmonds.

Quill, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Quilled (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Quilling.] 1. To plaint in small cylindrical ridges, called quillings; as, to quill a ruffle.

His cravat seemed quilled into a ruff.

Goldsmith.

2. To wind on a quill, as thread or yarn. Judd.

Quil*la"ia bark` (?). (Bot.) The bark of a rosaceous tree (Quillaja Saponaria), native of Chili. The bark is finely laminated, and very heavy with alkaline substances, and is used commonly by the Chilians instead of soap. Also called soap bark.

Quill"back` (?), n. (Zoˆl.) An American fresh-water fish (Ictiobus, or Carpiodes, cyprinus); -- called also carp sucker, sailfish, spearfish, and skimback.

Quilled (?), a. Furnished with quills; also, shaped like quills. "A sharp-quilled porcupine." Shak.

Quilled suture (Surg.), a variety of stitch in which the threads after being passed deeply through the edges of a wound are secured about two quills or bodies of similar shape, in order to produce a suitable degree of pressure.

Quil"let (?), n. [L. quidlibet what you please. Cf. Quiddit, and Quibble.] Subtilty; nicety; quibble. "Nice, sharp quillets of the law." Shak.