quarrel

English

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

From Old French querele (modern French querelle), itself from Latin querella (“complaint”), from queror (“I lament, I complain”).

Replaced Old English sacan by 1340 as “ground for complaint”.

Noun

quarrel (plural quarrels)

  1. A verbal dispute or heated argument.
    We got into a silly quarrel about what food to order.
    Quarrels would not last long if the fault were only on one side. - François de La Rochefoucauld
  2. A ground of dispute or objection; a complaint
    A few customers in the shop had some quarrels with us, so we called for the manager.
    • Bible, Mark vi. 19
      Herodias had a quarrel against him, and would have killed him.
    • Shakespeare
      No man hath any quarrel to me.
  3. (obsolete) earnest desire or longing
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Holland to this entry?)
Synonyms
Related terms
Translations
verbal dispute or heated argument
ground of dispute; complaint
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.
Translations to be checked

Verb

quarrel (third-person singular simple present quarrels, present participle quarrelling (UK) or quarreling (US), simple past and past participle quarrelled (UK) or quarreled (US)) (intransitive)

  1. (intransitive) To disagree.
  2. (intransitive) To contend, argue strongly, squabble.
  3. (intransitive) To find fault.
  4. (transitive, obsolete) To argue or squabble with.
    • Ben Jonson
      I had quarrelled my brother purposely.
Translations
disagree — see disagree
to contend, argue strongly, squabble
to find fault
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.
Translations to be checked

Derived terms

Etymology 2

From Middle English as "square-headed bolt for a crossbow" c.1225, from Old French quarel (also quarrel or carreau; modern: querelle), from Vulgar Latin *quadrellus, the diminutive of Latin quadrus (“a square”), related to quattuor "four".

Noun

quarrel (plural quarrels)

  1. A diamond-shaped piece of coloured glass forming part of a stained glass window.
  2. A square tile; quarry tile
  3. A square-headed arrow for a crossbow.
Translations
diamond-shaped piece of coloured glass forming part of a stained glass window
square tile
square-headed arrow for a crossbow

See also

↑Jump back a section
Last modified on 30 April 2013, at 13:11