[L., neut. sing. of quālis of what kind.] The quality of a thing; a thing having certain qualities.

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1675.  [Bp. Croft], Naked Truth, 25. The quid, the quale, the quantum, and such-like quacksalving forms.

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a. 1679.  T. Goodwin, Govt. Ch. Christ, xi. Wks. 1697, IV. 94. The Quale, or what sort of Bodies … Christ hath instituted, is to be afterward discussed.

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1768–74.  Tucker, Lt. Nat. (1834), II. 462. Qualities … cannot actually subsist, though they may be thought of, without a quale to possess them.

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1875.  Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), I. 270. When I do not know the ‘quid’ of anything how can I know the ‘quale’?

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  Quale, obs. f. QUAIL sb. and v., WHALE sb.

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