quarrel
Part of speech: noun
verb
Morphological type: simple
Etymology: From Middle English querele (“altercation, dispute; argument, debate; armed combat; trial by combat; basis for dispute, complaint; claim, legal suit; a lament; illness”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman querele [and other forms] and Middle French querele, querelle (“altercation, dispute; basis for dispute; side in a dispute; complaint; accusation; legal suit; lament; problem”) (modern French querelle), and from their etymon Latin querēla, querella (“dispute; argument; complaint, grievance; legal complaint; lament; illness”), from querī + -ēla, -ella (suffix forming nouns). querī (“to complain; to bewail, lament; to be indignant”) comes from Proto-Indo-European *ḱwes- (“to puff; to sigh”).
Inflected forms:
form: quarrels
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: quarrell
pos: noun
tags: alternative
obsolete
form: quarrels
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: quarreling
pos: verb
tags: US
participle
present
form: quarrelling
pos: verb
tags: UK
participle
present
form: quarreled
pos: verb
tags: US
participle
past
form: quarreled
pos: verb
tags: US
past
form: quarrelled
pos: verb
tags: UK
participle
past
form: quarrelled
pos: verb
tags: UK
past
form: no-table-tags
pos: verb
tags: table-tags
form: glossary
pos: verb
tags: inflection-template
form: quarrel
pos: verb
tags: infinitive
form: quarrel
pos: verb
tags: first-person
present
singular
form: quarrelled
pos: verb
tags: first-person
past
singular
form: quarrel
pos: verb
tags: present
second-person
singular
form: quarrelest
pos: verb
tags: archaic
present
second-person
singular
form: quarrellest
pos: verb
tags: archaic
present
second-person
singular
form: quarrelled
pos: verb
tags: past
second-person
singular
form: quarrelledst
pos: verb
tags: archaic
past
second-person
singular
form: quarrels
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: quarreleth
pos: verb
tags: archaic
present
singular
third-person
form: quarrelleth
pos: verb
tags: archaic
present
singular
third-person
form: quarrelled
pos: verb
tags: past
singular
third-person
form: quarrel
pos: verb
tags: plural
present
form: quarrelled
pos: verb
tags: past
plural
form: quarrel
pos: verb
tags: present
subjunctive
form: quarrelled
pos: verb
tags: past
subjunctive
form: quarrel
pos: verb
tags: imperative
present
form: -
pos: verb
tags: imperative
past
form: quarrelling
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: quarrelled
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: quarrell
pos: verb
tags: alternative
obsolete
Senses:
gloss: A dispute or heated argument (especially one that is verbal).
pos: noun
tags: countable
examples: We got into a silly quarrel about what food to order.
And let a Man bevvare, hovv he keepeth Company, vvith Cholerick and Quarelſome Perſons; for they vvill engage him into their ovvne Quarels.
Quarrels would not last long, if the fault was only on one side.
But capital was proving difficult to raise; rumours were in the air that the G.W.R. and L.S.W.R. were about to patch up their quarrel, and the people of Southampton, who twelve months earlier had staged a torch-light procession to celebrate the passing of the D.N.S.R. Act, were increasingly loath to part with their cash.
All quarrels halt at the grave.
gloss: Often preceded by a form of to have: a basis or ground of dispute or objection; a complaint; also, a feeling or situation of ill will and unhappiness caused by this.
pos: noun
tags: countable
examples: A few customers in the shop had some quarrels with us, so we called for the manager.
I have no quarrel with her; it’s her partner whom I dislike.
I maruaile much my Lords what rage it is,
That moues my people whom I loue ſo deare,
Vnder a ſhow of quarrell good and iust,
To riſe againſt vs thus in mutinies, […]
You miſtake ſir I am ſure, no man hath any quarrell to me: my remembrance is very free and cleere from any image of offence done to any man.
Therefore Herodias had a quarrel against him [John the Baptist], and would haue killed him, but ſhe could not.
I am sorry, with all my heart, to find you so resolute. We have never had any quarrel, to which I have been a party. But I have made the trial in homage to Christmas, and I'll keep my Christmas humour to the last. So A Merry Christmas, uncle!
The material is powerful, though more theatrical than realistic. The writing is good. On thinking the play over, however, I came up with a few quarrels with it, and I wonder if to some Rabe has not attempted to cover some weaknesses in construction with the sensationalism of shocking bloodshed.
gloss: A propensity to quarrel; quarrelsomeness.
pos: noun
tags: rare
uncountable
examples: If I can faſten but one cup vpon him, / With that which he hath drunke to night already, / Hee'll be as full of quarrell and offence, / As my young miſtris dog:— [...]
[A]ll beaſts and birds aſſembled; and forgetting their ſeuerall appetites; ſome of pray, ſome of game, ſome of quarrell, ſtood all ſociably together liſtening vnto the ayres and accords of the Harpe; […]
gloss: To argue fiercely; to contend; to squabble; to cease to be on friendly terms, to fall out.
pos: verb
tags: also
figuratively
intransitive
examples: [T]here is no doubt but the facture or framing of the inward parts, is as full of difference, as the outward, and in that, is the Cauſe Continent of many diſeaſes, which not be obſerued, they quarrell many times with the humors which are not in fault, the fault being in the very frame and Mechanicke of the parte, which cannot be remoued by medicine alteratiue, but muſt be accomodate and palliate by dyets and medicines familiar.
Nay, they [animals] feed quietly together while there is enough for them all: Quarrel onely when it begins to fail; and when 'tis ended, they ſcatter to ſeek out new encounters. Besides, thoſe called ſociable, quarrel in hunger and in luſt, as well as the others; [...]
I know, my dears, that when we recollect how patient and how mild he was; although he was a little, little child; we shall not quarrel easily among ourselves, and forget poor Tiny Tim in doing it.
gloss: To find fault; to cavil.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: to quarrel with one’s lot
Be not too rigidly Cenſorious, / A ſtring may jarr in the beſt Maſters hand, / And the moſt skilfull Archer miſs his aim; / But in a Poem elegantly writ, / I will not quarrel with a ſlight miſtake, / Such as our Natures frailty may excuſe; [...]
gloss: Followed by at: to disagree with; to take offence.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
obsolete
gloss: To argue or squabble with (someone).
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: [T]hey would ſay [...] that I had quarrell'd / My brother purpoſely, thereby to finde / An apt pretext, to baniſh them my houſe.
Related words: querent
Derived words: it takes two to make a quarrel
pick a quarrel
pick-quarrel
unquarrelled
unquarrelling
it takes two to quarrel
quarreler
quarreller
quarrelous
quarrel out
quarrelsome
quarrel with
Translations: