▪ I. quell, n.1 rare.
(kwɛl)
[f. quell v.1]
Slaying, slaughter; power or means to quell.
| c 1420 Anturs of Arth. 49 (Douce MS.) Withe gret questes and quelles Bothe in frethes and felles. 1543 Grafton Contn. Harding 518 Through al the tyme of hys vsurped reygne neuer ceased theyre quel, murder, death & slaughter. 1605 Shakes. Macb. i. vii. 72 His spungie Officers..shall beare the guilt Of our great quell. 1818 Keats Endym. ii. 537 Awfully he stands, A sovereign quell is in his waving hands. |
▪ II. quell, n.2 rare—1.
[a. G. quelle spring: cf. quell v.2]
A spring, fountain.
| 1894 ‘G. Egerton’ Discords 213 She was..the quell of living waters out of which he drew fresh strength for new lays. |
▪ III. quell, v.1
(kwɛl)
Forms: 1 cwellan, (cwoellan), 3 cwelle, -enn; 3–4 quellen, (5 qvellyn), 3–5 quelle, 5 qwell(e, whell(e, 4, 6 quel, 4– quell. pa. tense 1 cwealde, 3 qualde, quolde, (pl. cwelden, cwaldenn, qualden), 3–4 queld(e; 4– quelled, (4 -id, 6 Sc. -it, -yt). pa. pple. 3 i-queld, 4 quelt, 6 queld, 4– quelled, (5 -et).
[OE. cwęllan = OS. quellian (MDu. quellen, Du. kwellen), OHG. quellen, chellen (MHG. quellen queln, etc. G. quälen), ON. kvelja (Sw. qvälja, Da. kvæle):—OTeut. *kwaljan, causative from the root kwal-: see quale, quele.]
1. trans. To kill, slay, put to death, destroy (a person or animal). Now rare or Obs. (in later use associated with sense 3).
| c 897 K. ælfred Gregory's Past. xlv. 342 Swelce hwa wille blotan ðæm fæder..his aᵹen bearn, & hit ðonne cwelle beforan his eaᵹum. c 1000 ælfric Exod. xxix. 16 Þonne þu hine cwelst, þu nymst his blod. c 1205 Lay. 1752 Heo qualden [c 1275 cwelden] þa Frensce alle þa heo funden. c 1250 Death 14 in O.E. Misc. 168 Þe feond þencheð iwis þe sawle forto cwelle [v.r. quelle]. c 1350 Will. Palerne 179 Briddes & smale bestes wiþ his bow he quelles. a 1400–50 Alexander 1307 He..Bretens doun all þe bild & þe bernys quellis [v.r. whellis]. c 1510 Barclay Mirr. Gd. Manners (1570) D vj, If he be much cruell which doth his body quell Who killeth his owne soule is much more cruell. 1598 Hakluyt Voy. I. 20 Like barbarous miscreants, they quelled virgins vnto death. 1658 J. Jones Ovid's Ibis 93 Cassandrus..was by his subjects quelled with earth. 1791 Cowper Iliad v. 128 Yet him the dart Quell'd not. 1817 Byron Manfred ii. i. 85, I never quell'd An enemy, save in my just defence. |
| absol. 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 885 Þis king..bigan berne & quelle. 1590 Shakes. Mids. N. v. i. 292 O Fates..Quaile, crush, conclude, and quell. |
† b. To dash out, knock down. (Cf. kill v. 1.) Obs. rare.
| c 1374 Chaucer Troylus iv. 18 (46) They fyghte..And with here axes out þe braynes quelle. 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. I. 636 With mony knok the Romanes doun tha quell. a 1550 Christis Kirke Gr. xxi, The carlis with clubbis coud udir quell Quhyle blude at breistis out bokkit. |
c. To kill, destroy (a plant). rare—1.
| 1778 W. H. Marshall Minutes Agric. 6 June 1775 A dry summer, no doubt, quells the roots. |
2. To destroy, put an end to, suppress, extinguish, etc. (a thing or state of things, esp. a bad or disagreeable one, a feeling, disposition, etc.).
| 13.. Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 751 Þat syre þat..was borne oure baret to quelle. a 1400 Ipotis 334 in Horstm. Altengl. Leg. (1881) 345 He wente to helle, Þe fendes pouste for to quelle. 1591 Shakes. Two Gent. iv. ii. 13 All her sodaine quips, The least whereof would quell a louers hope. 1650 Fuller Pisgah ii. iv. 103 Here some Commentators being not able to quell, never raise this objection. 1678 Trans. Crt. Spain 25 This light punishment quelled all the false reports. 1725 De Foe Voy. round World (1840) 342 The captain quelled this mutiny. 1781 Gibbon Decl. & F. xxxi. III. 249 An indefatigable ardour, which could neither be quelled by adversity, nor satiated by success. 1832 Lander Adv. Niger II. xii. 181 We soon succeeded in quelling their fears. 1868 Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) II. viii. 173 All opposition was quelled by fire and sword. |
3. To crush or overcome (a person or thing); to subdue, vanquish, reduce to subjection or submission; † to force down to.
| 1570 Satir. Poems Reform. xxiii. 124 Thay did comfort vs, And maid vs fre quhen strangers did vs quell. 1610 Healey St. Aug. City of God 650 Pompey the great quelled them first, and made them tributaries to Rome. 1645 Milton Tetrach. Wks. (1847) 178/1 (Gen. i. 27) The want of this quells them to a servile sense of their own conscious unworthiness. 1748 Gray Alliance 91 With side-long plough to quell the flinty ground. 1838 Thirlwall Greece IV. xxxiii. 320 It might enable him to quell the revolted Egyptians. 1868 Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) II. viii. 297 The energy of William had thus thoroughly quelled all his foes. |
| absol. 1853 C. Brontë Villette xv, He quelled, he kept down when he could. |
† 4. intr. = quail v. 2, queal v. Obs.
| 1579 Spenser Sheph. Cal. Mar. 8 Winters wrath beginnes to quell [gloss. to abate]. a 1599 ― F.Q. vii. vii. 42 Then came old January, wrapped well..Yet did he quake and quiver, like to quell. 1616 Surfl. & Markh. Country Farme 114 Where ten thousand haue died for want of this exercise, not one hath quelled which hath beene vsed in this manner. |
Hence quelled ppl. a.
| 13.. Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 1324 Quykly of þe quelled dere a querré þay maked. 1821 J. Baillie Metr. Leg., Wallace iii, Her quell'd chiefs must tamely bear From braggart pride the taunting jeer. |
▪ IV. quell, v.2 rare.
[In first quot. app. repr. an OE. *cwellan = OS., OHG. quellan: in second quot. a. G. quellen.]
intr. To well out, flow.
| 1340 Ayenb. 248 Þe welle eurelestinde þet alneway kuelȝ and fayly ne may. 1863 Kingsley Water-Bab. i, Out of a low cave..the great fountain rose, quelling and bubbling. |