We laugh at the quiddities of those writers now.
Coleridge.
Quid"dle (?), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Quiddled (?); p. pr. & vb. n.
Quiddling (?).] [L. quid what.] To spend time in trifling employments,
or to attend to useful subjects in an indifferent or superficial
manner; to dawdle.
{ Quid"dle (?), Quid"dler (?), } n. One who wastes his energy about
trifles. Emerson.
Quid"nunc (?), n. [L., what now?] One who is curious to know everything
that passes; one who knows, or pretends to know, all that is going on.
"The idle stories of quidnuncs." Motley.
Qui*esce" (?), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Quiesced (?); p. pr. & vb. n.
Quiescing (?).] [L. quiescere, akin to quies rest, quiet. See Quiet, a.
& n.] To be silent, as a letter; to have no sound. M. Stuart.
{ Qui*es"cence (?), Qui*es"cen*cy (?), } n. [L. quiescentia, fr.
quiescens, p. pr.; cf. F. quiestence. See Quiesce.] The state or
quality of being quiescent. "Quiescence, bodily and mental." H.
Spencer.
Deeds will be done; -- while be boasts his quiescence.
R. Browning.
Qui*es"cent (?), a. [L. quiescens, -entis, p. pr. of quiescere: cf. F.
quiescent. See Quiesce.] 1. Being in a state of repose; at rest; still;
not moving; as, a quiescent body or fluid.
2. Not ruffed with passion; unagitated; not in action; not excited;
quiet; dormant; resting.
In times of national security, the feeling of patriotism . . . is
so quiescent that it seems hardly to exist.
Prof. Wilson.