▪ I. † quale1 Obs.
[OE. cwalu = ON. kvǫl (stem kval-) torment, torture, f. *kwal- ablaut-var. of *kwel-: see quele, quell. The vowel is long in OS. quâla (MDu. quâle, Du. kwaal, LG. quaal), OHG. quâla, chwâla, etc. (MHG. quâle, quâl, etc., G. qual).]
Death, destruction, mortality.
| c 900 tr. Bæda's Hist. ii. xi. [xiv.] (1890) 138 Se cyning mid arleasre cwale of sleᵹen wæs. c 1000 Ags. Ps. (Th.) xxix. 8 Drihten, hu nyt is þe min slæᵹe, oþþe min cwalu. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 121 God ne sparede na his aȝene berne; ac ȝef hine to cwale for us alle. c 1205 Lay. 31807 Þat quale com on orue vnimete swiðe. |
b. Comb., as quale-house, house of torture; quale-sithe, death from pestilence.
| c 1205 Lay. 727 Vt of þon quarterne, of þan quale-huse [c 1275 cwal-huse]. Ibid. 3769. Ibid. 31900 Heo..cudden heore cunne of heore quale-siðe. |
▪ II. ‖ quale2
(ˈkweɪliː)
[L., neut. sing. of quālis of what kind.]
The quality of a thing; a thing having certain qualities.
| 1675 [Bp. Croft] Naked Truth 25 The quid, the quale, the quantum, and such-like quacksalving forms. 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. 1768–74 Tucker Lt. Nat. (1834) II. 462 Qualities..cannot actually subsist, though they may be thought of, without a quale to possess them. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) I. 270 When I do not know the ‘quid’ of anything how can I know the ‘quale’? |
▪ III. quale
obs. f. quail n. and v., whale n.