▪ I. † qualm, n.1 Obs.
Forms: 1–2 cwealm, 2–3 cwalm, (3 cu-), 2–4 qualm, 3 quelme, 4 qw-, qualme, 6 Sc. quhalm, qualim.
[OE. cwealm death, slaughter, pestilence, = OS. qualm, OHG. qu-, chualm (MHG. qualm anguish); f. *kwal-, ablaut-var. of *kwel- to die: see quele, quell.]
1. General or widespread mortality of men or animals; plague, pestilence.
In OE. also used of the (violent) death of a single person.
| c 1000 ælfric Hom. II. 122 Micel cwealm wearð þæs folces. Ibid. 192 Cwealm on heora orfe. c 1125 O.E. Chron. (Laud MS.) an. 1125 Hunger & cwealm on men & on erue. c 1205 Lay. 31877 Þe qualm muchele Þe wes on moncunne. a 1250 Owl & Night. 1155 Thu bodest cualm of orwe. a 1340 Hampole Psalter cv. 29 And finees stode & quemyd & þe qualm left. c 1386 Chaucer Knt.'s T. 1156 A thousand slayn and nat oon of qualm ystorue. |
b. Loss or damage.
| ? a 1366 Chaucer Rom. Rose 357 Ywys, great qualme [F. grant morie] ne were it noon, Ne synne, although her lyf were gon. 1513 Douglas æneis x. i. 31 Quhen the fers burgh of Cartage To Romys boundis..Ane huge myscheif and gret quhalm [ed. 1553 qualim] send sall. |
2. attrib., as qualm-house, qualm-stow.
| c 725 Corpus Gloss. 2 Calvariae locus, cualmstou. c 1000 ælfric Hom. II. 254 Ða cempan hine ᵹelæddon to ðære cwealm-stowe. a 1225 Ancr. R. 106 Þe munt of Caluarie..was þe cwalmsteou. Ibid. 140 Iput in one prisune, & bitund ase in one cwalm huse. |
▪ II. † qualm, n.2 Obs. rare—1.
[App. imitative; cf. G. galm sound, noise.]
Croak.
| c 1374 Chaucer Troylus v. 382 Augurye of thise foweles..As ravenes qualm, or schrychynge of thise owles. |
▪ III. qualm, n.3
(kwɑːm, kwɔːm)
Forms: 6 quamme (? calme), 6–7 qualme, quaume, qua(i)me, 7 quawme, quaem, 6– qualm.
[Of obscure origin: in form and sense identical with Da. kvalme, † kvalm, Sw. qvalm, but these are app. not native words. Cf. G. (now dial.) qualm (kalm) swoon, faint, unconscious state (:—MHG. twalm: see dwalm n.), and G. qualm (whence Da. kvalm, Sw. qvalm) vapour, steam, close air.
OE. cwealm qualm n.1 had the sense ‘pain’, ‘torment’, (see quots. in Bosw.-Toller), and some instances of qualm in 16–17th c. use might conceivably mean ‘pain’, ‘pang’; but historical evidence of connexion is wanting, and the sense of ‘sick fit’, ‘sickness’ is possible in all the cases.]
1. A (sudden) feeling or fit of faintness, illness, or sickness. (Now restricted to cases in which the seat of the disorder is in the stomach, but formerly in somewhat wider use.)
| c 1530 R. Copland Jyl of Brentfords Test. 233 With qualmes & stytches it doth me torment, That all my body is torne and rent. 1565 Jewel Repl. Harding (1611) 52 If any quame or sicknesse happen to fall vpon him. 1594 T. B. La Primaud. Fr. Acad. ii. 139 Such as haue some quaume about their heart, so that they faint and sowne. 1683 Tryon Way to Health 27 It makes the Stomach sick..and sickish Qualms to arise. 1740 Somerville Hobbinol iii. 219 The sickly Qualms That grieve her Soul. 1829 Lytton Devereux ii. v, Has the bottle bequeathed thee a qualm or a head-ache. 1874 Burnand My time xxxii. 326 Breeze enough for sailing,..no qualms to interfere with appetite. |
2. transf. a. A fit of sickening fear, misgiving, or depression; a sudden sinking or faintness of heart. Now rare.
| a 1555 Ridley in Foxe A. & M. iii. (1596) 446 The weake manne of God..will have now and then such thoughtes and quaumes (as they call them) to runne ouer his hart. 1624 Ld. Keeper Williams in Fortesc. Papers (Camden) 203 A certayne qualme came over his stomacke to be of a Judge noe Judge. 1712 Arbuthnot John Bull iii. iii, Many a doubt, many a qualm, overspread his clouded imagination. 1792 M. Wollstonecraft Rights Wom. v. 236, [I] soon heard, with the sickly qualm of disappointed hope..that she was no more. 1861 Sat. Rev. 21 Dec. 636 Apt to leave qualms and misgivings on the sensitive..temperament. |
b. A strong scruple of conscience; a painful doubt or consciousness of acting wrongly.
| 1649 Milton Eikon. xxviii. 240 Unedified consciences apt to engage their Leaders in great affaires and then, upon a sudden qualm and swimming of their conscience, betray them. 1687 T. Brown Saints in Uproar Wks. 1730 I. 77 So strangely troubled with qualms of conscience. 1749 Fielding Tom Jones vi. xiii, It was absurd..to affect any qualms about this trifle. 1806 Jefferson Writ. (1830) IV. 55 One qualm of principle..I do feel. 1863 Kinglake Crimea (1877) II. xiv. 241 It was natural that some of the members of the Government should have qualms. |
c. A fit or sudden access of some quality, principle, etc. (Now only with suggestion of prec.)
| a 1626 Bp. Andrewes Serm., Repent. & Fasting (1661) 170, I doubt ours hath been rather a flash, a qualme, a brunt than otherwise. 1655 Fuller Ch. Hist. iii. v. §55 Although this qualm of Loyalty took this Church for the present. 1655 Jer. Taylor Guide Devot. (1719) 125 If the Fit or Qualm of my Devotion holds out longer. 1820 W. Irving Sketch Bk. II. 282 Immediately after one of these fits of extravagance, he will be taken with violent qualms of economy. 1873 Browning Red Cotton Night-Cap Country 269 Had he a devotion-fit? Clara grew serious with like qualm. |
3. Comb., as qualm-sick adj.
| 1718 Entertainer No. 30. 202 [They] grew qualm-sick at the Common Prayer. 1758 Mickmakis & Maricheets 55 She..blows the smoak towards his nostrils, even sometimes so violently, as to make him qualm-sick. 1880 Burton Queen Anne II. xi. 189 Qualm-sick stomachs of..self-conceited hypocrites. |
▪ IV. † qualm, n.4 Obs. rare—1.
[var. of walm, perh. after G. qualm steam.]
The act of boiling.
| 1599 A. M. tr. Gabelhouer's Bk. Physicke 4/1 Let it seeth on the fyer one qualme or two. |
▪ V. qualm, v.1
[Connected with qualm n.3 Cf. Da. kvalme to have a qualm, and G. (now dial.) qualmen (kalmen) to swoon, be unconscious.]
† 1. intr. To have a qualm or qualms. (Cf. qualming vbl. n. and ppl. a.) Obs.
| 1565 Cooper Thesaurus, Deficere, I faynte, sounde, or qualme for heate. 1603 Florio tr. Montaigne iii. xiii. (1897) VI. 253 My stomacke begins to qualme, my head feeleth a violent aking. |
2. a. trans. To make sick. b. absol. To induce qualms. rare.
| 1611 Beaum. & Fl. Scornful Lady iv. i, How I grew qualm'd in love. 1713 Gentleman Instructed iii. viii. 434 Envy qualms on his Bowels, Prodigality on his Purse. 1884 G. H. Boughton in Harper's Mag. Oct. 701/1 If one is..qualmed by the show of..confectionery. |
▪ VI. † qualm, v.2 Obs. rare—1.
[var. of walm, perh. after G. qualmen to steam.]
To boil.
| 1599 A. M. tr. Gabelhouer's Bk. Physicke 8/2 Take thre quartes of Lye..and let it qualme a little on the fyer. |