‖ quorum
(ˈkwɔərəm)
[L., lit. ‘of whom’, from the wording of commissions in which certain persons were specially designated as members of a body by the words quorum vos{ddd}unum (duos, etc.) esse volumus ‘of whom we will that you{ddd}be one (two, etc.)’.]
1. Orig., certain justices of the peace, usually of eminent learning or ability, whose presence was necessary to constitute a bench; latterly the term was loosely applied to all justices.
| 1455 Rolls Parlt. V. 334/1 The Justicez or Justice of the Pease of the Quorum yn the same Shire. 1495 Act 11 Hen. VII c. 2 §5, ij of the Justices of the peas wherof one shalbe of the Quorum. 1559 Mirr. Mag., R. Tresilian vii, At sessions & at syses..In patentes & commissions of Quorum. 1581 Lambarde Eiren. i. ix. (1602) 46 So that the one of those two [Justices] be of that select number, which is commonly tearmed of the Quorum. For these of the Quorum were wont..to bee chosen, specially for their knowledge in the Lawes of the lande. 1625 Massinger New Way i. i, Old Sir John Wellborn, Justice of Peace and Quorum. 1691 Wood Ath. Oxon. II. 274 George Wither..a Justice of Peace in Quorum for Hampshire. 1728 Vanbr. & Cib. Prov. Husb. ii. i. 43 I'm o' th' Quorum—I have been at Sessions. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. xxii. IV. 705 A squire who was one of the quorum. |
| Comb. 1619 Hutton Foll. Anat., Ixions Wheele E iij b, The Gods..Quorum Iustice warrants sent by poast. |
b. transf. Applied to similarly distinguished members of other bodies; hence, a select company.
| 1602 Warner Alb. Eng. ix. xlvi. (1612) 216 The Hellish Potentates..a new Commission framed, Narcissus ghost and Ecchos voice therein of Quorum named. a 1661 Fuller Worthies (1840) III. 187 He was afterwards of that quorum in the translating of the Bible. 1678 Marvell Growth Popery Wks. 1875 IV. 329 [They are] so small a scantling in number, that men can scarce reckon of them more than a quorum. 1747 Scheme Equip. Men of War 24 A Quorum of Surgeons..should be ordered to..examine them. 1859 Green Oxf. Stud. ii. §10 (O.H.S.) 128 The deepest sot among the topers of the quorum. |
| Comb. 1659 A. Brome Panegyr. Verses in R. Brome's Wks. II, These would-be Quorum-Wits, and by their own Commission, do invade Apollo's throne. |
2. A fixed number of members of any body, society, etc., whose presence is necessary for the proper or valid transaction of business.
| 1616 in Row Hist. Kirk (1842) 81 The Assemblie appoynts twenty Commissioners nominat, whereof six a quorum, to attend the King's Majestie's ansuer. 1669 Evelyn Diary 19 May, It was order'd that 5 should be a quorum for a Council. 1720 Wodrow Corr. (1843) II. 524 The Commission should have met this day; but we have not a quorum in the forenoon. 1800 Colquhoun Comm. Thames xiii. 369 At the Meetings of the Directors, five Members shall be a quorum, capable of acting. 1873 Burton Hist. Scot. V. lvii. 163 Six were to be a quorum, of whom the chancellor must always be one. |
† 3. Necessary materials.
Obs. rare.
| 1650 Fuller Pisgah i. vi. 12 Salt, Bread and Wine..(all of the Quorum to every feast). 1655 ― Ch. Hist. iii. xiv. §12 Fullers earth..a great Commodity of the Quorum to the making of good Cloath. |