# quat
## English
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /kwɒt/
* Audio (Southern England):(file)
* Rhymes: -ɒt

### Etymology 1

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

#### Noun

quat (plural quats)
* (obsolete) A pustule.
* (obsolete) An annoying, worthless person.
** 1565, William Shakespeare, Othello:I have rubb'd this young quat almost to the sense, And he grows angry.

#### Verb

quat (third-person singular simple present quats, present participle quatting, simple past and past participle quatted)
* (transitive, obsolete) To satiate.
** 1757, Samuel Foote, The Author, Act II, Scene ii, 1765, The Dramatic Works, Volume 1, page 28,
    Mrs. Cad. Well, come, begin and ſtart me, that I may come the ſooner to quatting——Huſh ! here′s Siſter ; what the deuce brought her !
* (Scotland, dialectal, transitive) To relinquish, forsake, give up.
    Ye hae grown proud since ye quatted the begging. — Scottish proverb, said satirically.
** 1813, Hugh Porter, Poetical attempts, page 35:'Mang mis'ry's posts, whar I did sit, My tongue took sic a faltrin' fit, I thought the wee remains o' wit I had, was quat me
** 1868, John Wilson, Recreations of Christopher North, Volume 2:They seem to our ears indeed to have "quat their roaring play."
* (Wales and Southwest England, dialectal, intransitive) To squat or crouch down.
** 1700, Ta Paidia Tēs Kythereias; Or, King's Place In An Uproar, page 10:Tho' B-lt-n, quatted in the hall, Her jolly r-mpfs display'd, The size of it amaz'd them all, and Hector quite dismay'd.
** 1870, William Bottrell, Traditions and Hearthside Stories of West Cornwall:This cows' courant so excited the tinners' curiosity that they went up the hill till they saw the two men wrestling, with the women looking on; then they quatted (stooped) down in a brake of furze to watch the play without being seen.
** 1932, Ernest Thompson Seton, Famous Animal Stories, page 678:Tarka quatted on the ledge ; he knew that Deadlock would follow hiin wherever he swam in water.
** 2013, R. M. Lienau, The Truchas Light: A Novel, →ISBN, page 155:She quatted down next to him and rubbed his shoulder.

#### Adjective

quat (not comparable)
* (Scotland, dialectal, with "of") Free; no longer involved with; quit.
** 1838, Chambers's Journal, page 134:My word, I gie him nae encouragement ! I canna bide the sicht o' him, and wad gie the best gown I hae to be quat o' him."
** 1861, Mrs. Oliphant, The House on the Moor:There it is, sir—Im blythe to be quat of it; pitch it from ye furder than I can see.
** 1895, William Stewart, Lilts and Larks Frae Larkie, page 177:HECH me, but I'm weary, I'm heart-sick and sad ; O' my kinsfolk I've got quite a wamefu', I wush I was quat o' the d — nable squad — Forgi'e me for sweerin' sae shamefu'.

### Etymology 2

Clipping of quaternary.

#### Noun

quat (plural quats)
* (chemistry) A quaternary ammonium cation or compound.
** 2009 October 1, Hilary Howard, “New Ways to Moisturize for Less”, in The New York Times‎:“Because quats are positively charged, and skin proteins have a slightly negative charge, quats like to attach themselves to skin,” said Greg Nole, a manager at Unilever, the parent company of Vaseline and Dove.

#### Adjective

quat (not comparable)
* Quaternary.

### Etymology 3

See khat.

#### Noun

quat (countable and uncountable, plural quats)
* Alternative spelling of khat.

## Middle English
### Adjective

quat
* Alternative form of wothe

## Old High German
### Alternative forms

* kōt

### Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *kwād.

### Noun

quāt m
* mud
* dirt

#### Descendants

* Middle High German: quāt, kāt, quōt, kōt
** German: Kot
** Cimbrian: khòat