quat

See also: quất, quạt, quặt, quật, and quat'

English

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /kwɒt/
Audio (Southern England) (file)
Rhymes: -ɒt

Etymology 1

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

quat (plural quats)

(obsolete) A pustule.
(obsolete) An annoying, worthless person.
- 1565, William Shakespeare, Othello:
  I have rubb'd this young quat almost to the sense, And he grows angry.

Verb

quat (third-person singular simple present quats, present participle quatting, simple past and past participle quatted)

(transitive, obsolete) To satiate.
- 1757, Samuel Foote, The Author, Act II, Scene ii, 1765, The Dramatic Works, Volume 1, page 28,
  Mrs. Cad. Well, come, begin and ſtart me, that I may come the ſooner to quatting——Huſh ! here′s Siſter ; what the deuce brought her !
(Scotland, dialectal, transitive) To relinquish, forsake, give up.
Ye hae grown proud since ye quatted the begging. — Scottish proverb, said satirically.
- 1813, Hugh Porter, Poetical attempts, page 35:
  'Mang mis'ry's posts, whar I did sit, My tongue took sic a faltrin' fit, I thought the wee remains o' wit I had, was quat me
- 1868, John Wilson, Recreations of Christopher North, Volume 2:
  They seem to our ears indeed to have "quat their roaring play."
(Wales and Southwest England, dialectal, intransitive) To squat or crouch down.
- 1700, Ta Paidia Tēs Kythereias; Or, King's Place In An Uproar, page 10:
  Tho' B-lt-n, quatted in the hall, Her jolly r-mpfs display'd, The size of it amaz'd them all, and Hector quite dismay'd.
- 1870, William Bottrell, Traditions and Hearthside Stories of West Cornwall:
  This cows' courant so excited the tinners' curiosity that they went up the hill till they saw the two men wrestling, with the women looking on; then they quatted (stooped) down in a brake of furze to watch the play without being seen.
- 1932, Ernest Thompson Seton, Famous Animal Stories, page 678:
  Tarka quatted on the ledge ; he knew that Deadlock would follow hiin wherever he swam in water.
- 2013, R. M. Lienau, The Truchas Light: A Novel, →ISBN, page 155:
  She quatted down next to him and rubbed his shoulder.

Adjective

quat (not comparable)

(Scotland, dialectal, with "of") Free; no longer involved with; quit.
- 1838, Chambers's Journal, page 134:
  My word, I gie him nae encouragement ! I canna bide the sicht o' him, and wad gie the best gown I hae to be quat o' him."
- 1861, Mrs. Oliphant, The House on the Moor:
  There it is, sir—Im blythe to be quat of it; pitch it from ye furder than I can see.
- 1895, William Stewart, Lilts and Larks Frae Larkie, page 177:
  HECH me, but I'm weary, I'm heart-sick and sad ; O' my kinsfolk I've got quite a wamefu', I wush I was quat o' the d — nable squad — Forgi'e me for sweerin' sae shamefu'.

Etymology 2

Clipping of quaternary.

Noun

quat (plural quats)

(chemistry) A quaternary ammonium cation or compound.
- 2009 October 1, Hilary Howard, “New Ways to Moisturize for Less”, in The New York Times‎:
  “Because quats are positively charged, and skin proteins have a slightly negative charge, quats like to attach themselves to skin,” said Greg Nole, a manager at Unilever, the parent company of Vaseline and Dove.

Adjective

quat (not comparable)

Quaternary.

Etymology 3

See khat.

Noun

quat (countable and uncountable, plural quats)

Alternative spelling of khat.

Middle English

Adjective

quat

Alternative form of wothe

Old High German

Alternative forms

kōt

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *kwād.

Noun

quāt m

mud
dirt

Descendants

Middle High German: quāt, kāt, quōt, kōt
- German: Kot