/kwɜːk/, /kwɝk/
OriginFirst attested in the 1540s. Of uncertain origin. Possibly from Middle English *querk, from Old Norse kverk (“a bend or angle, especially below a cross-beam or below the chin, the bight of an axe", also "throat, gullet”), from Proto-Germanic *kwerkō (“throat, gullet”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʷerh₃- (“to devour; maw”). Cognate with Scots querk (“throat", also "any hollow in the body, such as an armpit, groin, instep, etc.”), Icelandic kverk (“interior angle”). Also partially from dialectal quirk, querk (“a whim, fancy, fuss, huff, complaint", also "to peevishly grumble, grunt, sigh, croak, die”), from Middle English querken, *quirken (“to choke”), from Old Norse kvirkja (“to choke, strangle”), from the same origin above. Related to dialectal querken, quirken (“to choke”). Likely not related to queer.
- An idiosyncrasy; a slight glitch, a mannerism; something unusual about the manner or style of something or someone.
“The car steers cleanly, but the gearshift has a few quirks.”
- An acute angle dividing a molding; a groove that runs lengthwise between the upper part of a molding and a soffit.
- archaicA quibble, evasion, or subterfuge.
“Had you no quirk / To avoid gullage, sir, by such a creature?”
“Let us not be too curious in prying into Gods arke, leaſt vve ſmart like the flie fluttering about the candle, for God is a conſuming fire to thoſe that vvill be ſporting themſelves in the quirks of t”
- ambitransitiveTo (cause to) move with a wry jerk.
“He quirked an eyebrow.”
“The corners of her mouth quirked.”
“He quirked his lips playfully.”
- transitiveTo furnish with a quirk or channel.
- To alter in a unique and unusual way.
“But in the dream the forms are quirked by the peculiar troubles of the dreamer, whereas in myth the problems and solutions shown are directly valid for all mankind.”
- archaic, intransitiveTo use verbal tricks or quibbles.
“I have stung her and wrung her,
The venom is working;—
And if you had hung her
With canting and quirking,
She could not be deader than she will be soon”
- A surname.
“Assemblymember Bill Quirk (D-Hayward) has introduced a bill to address power outages caused by metallic film balloons when they come into contact with powerlines.”
Formsquirks(plural) · quirks(present, singular, third-person) · quirking(participle, present) · quirked(participle, past) · quirked(past)