quire
noun
- a collection of 24 or sometimes 25 sheets of paper of the same size and quality : one twentieth of a ream
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /ˈkwaɪ.ə(ɹ)/
noun
Etymology: From Middle English quer, quere, from Old French quer, from Latin chorus, from Ancient Greek χορός (khorós, “company of dancers or singers”). Doublet of choir, chorus, and hora.
- Uncommon form of choir (“one quarter of a cruciform church, or the architectural area of a church used by the choir, often near the apse”).
- Archaic spelling of choir (“group of people who sing together”).
“Madam, myself have lim'd a bush for her, And plac'd a quire of such enticing birds, That she will light to listen to the lays, And never mount to trouble you again.”
“1597–1598, Joseph Hall, Virgidemiarum Yea, and the prophet of the heav'nly lyre, / Great Solomon sings in the English quire […]”
verb
Etymology: From Middle English quer, quere, from Old French quer, from Latin chorus, from Ancient Greek χορός (khorós, “company of dancers or singers”). Doublet of choir, chorus, and hora.
- Poetic spelling of choir (“to sing in concert”).
“Sit, Jessica. Look how the floor of heaven / Is thick inlaid with patines of bright gold: / There's not the smallest orb which thou behold'st / But in his motion like an angel sings, / Still quiring to the young-eyed cherubins; / Such harmony is in immortal souls; / But whilst this muddy vesture of decay / Doth grossly close it in, we cannot hear it.”
“I saw the 'potamus take wing / Ascending from the damp savannas, / And quiring angels round him sing / The praise of God, in loud hosannas.”