quell
noun
- (obsolete) slaughter
- (archaic) the power of quelling
verb
- to thoroughly overwhelm and reduce to submission or passivity
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /kwɛl/
noun
Etymology: From Middle English *quelle (suggested by the verb quellen (“to well up; gush forth”)), from Old English cwylla, cwiella (“spring; source”), from Proto-West Germanic *kwalljā (“spring, well”). Compare German Quelle.
- A source, especially a spring.
“And when they had eaten, and sat resting in a grotto, he was still singing, and she was the goddess of his Muse, — the quell of living waters out of which he drew fresh strength for new lays.”
“Other excruciations replaced her namesake's loquacious quells so completely that when, during a lucid interval, she happened to open with her weak little hand a lavabo cock for a drink of water, the tepid lymph replied in its own lingo […]”
- An emotion or sensation which rises suddenly.
“A quell of strength over took Robin with each of his words. She was about to fall apart, but Jacob was as brave as a warrior going into battle.”
“For a moment their eyes locked, and she felt a quell of anger rise above her apprehension. Reality struck with appalling clarity, yet she could only lie down, partially drugged and untidy as she was from such rough traveling.”
verb
Etymology: From Middle English quellen, from Old English cwellan (“to kill”), from Proto-West Germanic *kwalljan, from Proto-Germanic *kwaljaną (“to make die; kill”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʷelH-. Cognate with German quälen (“to torment; agonise; smite”), Swedish kvälja (“to torment”), Icelandic kvelja (“to torture; torment”). Compare also Old Armenian կեղ (keł, “sore, ulcer”), Old Church Slavonic жаль (žalĭ, “pain”). See also kill, which may be its doublet.
- To subdue, put down, or silence (someone or something); to force (someone) to submit.
“The nation obeyed the call, rallied round the sovereign, and enabled him to quell the disaffected minority.”
“Northward marching to quell the sudden revolt.”
- To suppress, to put an end to (something); to extinguish.
“to quell grief”
“to quell the tumult of the soul”
- To kill.
“Like barbarous miſcreants, they quelled Virgins vnto death, […]”
“Well prov'd in that same day, when Jove those gyants quelled.”
- To be subdued or abated; to diminish.
“Winter's wrath begins to quell.”
- To die.
“Yet he did quake and quaver, like to quell.”