Also 6 quircke, queerk, 6–7 quirke, 6–9 querk, 7 quirck, quer(c)ke, quirt, (qirk). [Of obscure origin and history; app. native in western dialects.
The original sense was prob. as in 6, whence on the one hand the techn. and dial. uses in 7, in which the ‘quirk’ is in some material thing, and on the other hand the literary uses in 1–5, referring to mental operations, modes of action, etc. The earliest trace of the word appears in Salesbury’s Welsh Dict. (1547), where Kwyrk-hosan is given as the W. equivalent of Eng. clock (see 7 a); the term is still current in Wales, but its form proves it to be from Eng.]
1. A verbal trick, subtlety, shift or evasion; a quibble, quibbling argument.
1565. T. Stapleton, Fortr. Faith, 100*. Not vpon quirkes and suttelties in matters indifferent.
1566. Drant, Horace, Sat., I. v. C iij b. The quiddityes and queerks of logique darke.
1583. Stubbes, Anat. Abus., II. (1882), 46. They inuente quirckes and quiddities, shiftes, and put-offes ynough to blinde the eies of the magistrates.
1625. W. Pemble, Justification (1629), 190. The shifting quercke of a schoolemans braine.
1678. R. L’Estrange, Seneca’s Mor. (1702), 131. Not with Syllogisms, or Quirks of Wit; but with plain and weighty Reason.
1711. E. Ward, Vulgus Brit., II. 132. Perverting solid Sense, With artful Querks and Impudence.
1782. Cowper, Progr. Err., 550. His still refuted quirks he still repeats.
1814. D’Israeli, Quarrels Auth. (1867), 251. A true feeling of religion does not depend on the quirks and quibbles of human reasonings.
1878. Browning, Poets Croisic, cxxx. In vain the Chevalier beat brain for quirk To help in this conjuncture.
Comb. 1802–12. Bentham, Ration. Judic. Evid. (1827), IV. 386. The quirk-abjuring ejaculation … of lord Hale.
b. The employment of quirks; quibbling.
1674. N. Fairfax, Bulk & Selv., 173. This indeed smells pretty strong of quirk, but relishes as faintly as may be of reason.
1796. Charlotte Smith, Marchmont, IV. 221. His fears lest chicane and quirk … should deprive Althea … of the two thousand pounds.
1839. Carlyle, Chartism, v. (1858), 25. Shiftiness, quirk, attorney-cunning … fancies itself … to be talent.
2. A clever or witty turn or conceit; a quip.
1599. Shaks., Much Ado, II. i. 245. I may chance haue some odde quirkes and remnants of witte broken on mee.
1633. T. Adams, Exp. 2 Peter i. 4. It is not enough to have quirks of wit, but soundness of doctrine.
1699. Bentley, Phal., iii. 145. His Quirks and Witticisms upon Me are all grafted upon his own mistakes.
1794. Godwin, Cal. Williams, 28. Your rhymes and your rebusses, your quirks and your conundrums.
1835. Marryat, Jac. Faithf., xxvii. He had a quiz and a quirk for everybody that passed.
1882. L. Campbell, Life Clerk Maxwell, ii. 31. He must … enliven it with some quirk of fancy.
3. Mus. A sudden turn; a fantastic phrase. rare.
1579. Gosson, Sch. Abuse (Arb.), 28. How many noates, how many restes, how many querks.
1731. Pope, Ep. Burlington, 143. Light quirks of Music, broken and uneven.
1883. G. P. Lathrop, Span. Vistas, 126. The quirks of the melody are not unlike those of very old English ballads.
4. A trick or peculiarity in action or behavior; † a knack, a fad.
1601. Shaks., Twel. N., III. iv. 268. I have heard of some kinde of men that put quarreles purposely on others, to taste their valour; belike this is a man of that quirke.
a. 1635. Corbet, Poems (1807), 100. He hath besides a pretty quirk … how to work In iron with much ease.
1656. Earl Monm., trans. Boccalini’s Advts. fr. Parnass., I. xli. (1674), 54. Having their heads full of querks and new inventions.
1791. Learmont, Poems, 42. He is … markin’ out some dyke, or drainin’ Wi’ mony a quirk.
a. 1864. Hawthorne, Amer. Note-Bks. (1879), I. 136. His manner was full of quirks.
1868. Louisa M. Alcott, Little Women (1869), I. iii. 44. How do you learn all the proper quirks?
† 5. A fit, start, sudden stroke. Obs. rare–1.
1601. Shaks., All’s Well, III. ii. 51. I haue felt so many quirkes of ioy and greefe.
6. A sudden twist, turn or curve; esp. in drawing or writing: A flourish.
1605. B. Jonson, Volpone, III. vii. Some yong Frenchman … That … Knew euery quirke within lusts laborinth.
1840. Thackeray, George Cruikshank, Wks. 1900, XIII. 309. These little dots and specks, and fantastical quirks of the pencil.
1860. Bushnell, in Life, xx. (1880), 437. Write a large, full, regular, and free hand. Bring in no quirks and flourishes.
7. techn. or dial.
a. In a stocking = CLOCK sb.2
1547. [see etym. note].
1583. Stubbes, Anat. Abus., I. E iij b. Then haue they nether-stocks to these gay hosen … with quirks and clocks about the ancles.
[1834. Planché, Brit. Costume, 260. Hose … with quirks, clocks, open seams.]
1879–. In dial. glossaries (Chesh., Shroph., Som., etc.).
b. A diamond-shaped piece of leather inserted at the junction of the fingers with the palm in some makes of gloves.
1688. R. Holme, Armoury, III. 18/1. Of a Glove … the Querks, the little square peeces at the bottom of the Fingers.
1881. Oxfordshire Gloss., Suppl., Quirks, the bits between the fingers of leather gloves, where they open.
c. A piece added to, or taken from, a regular figure, or cut out of a certain surface (see quots.).
1679. Moxon, Mech. Exerc., I. 130. If either a Quirk or any Addition be added to the Building, on any side of your Ground-plot, you must describe it also proportionably.
1688. R. Holme, Armoury, III. 110/2. A square being struck into four parts, one of those parts in Carpentry Terms is called a Quirk.
1842. Francis, Dict. Arts, s.v., The irregular garden beds, cut out of grass lawns, are … as truly quirks as any other example that can be adduced.
d. An irregular pane of glass (see quots.).
1688. R. Holme, Armoury, III. 385/2. Querke, is a nook shoten Pane, or any Pane whose sides and top run out of a square form.
1847–78. Halliwell, Quirk,… a pane of glass cut at the sides and top in the form of a rhomb.
e. Arch. An acute hollow between the convex part of certain moldings and the soffit or fillet.
1816. J. Smith, Panorama Sci. & Art, I. 173. The Grecian mouldings are often … worked with a small return, technically called a quirk.
1836. Parker, Gloss. Archit. (1850), I. 379. In Gothic architecture quirks are abundantly used between mouldings.
1876. T. Hardy, Ethelberta, v. Along fillet, quirk, arris, and moulding.
8. Comb. quirk-float, a plasterer’s float used for angles; quirk-mo(u)lding, a molding with a quirk or sharp return (Crabb, 1823).
1842–59. Gwilt, Archit., § 2242. Floats are of three sorts: the hand float…; the quirk float, which is used on or in angles; and the Derby.
