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quitch

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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From Middle English quicchen, quytchen, quecchen, from Old English cweċċan (to shake, swing, move, vibrate, shake off, give up), from Proto-West Germanic *kwakkjan, from Proto-Germanic *kwakjaną (to shake, swing), from Proto-Indo-European *gʷog- (to shake, swing). Related to Old English cwacian (to quake). More at quake.

Alternative forms

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Verb

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quitch (third-person singular simple present quitches, present participle quitching, simple past and past participle quitched)

  1. (transitive, obsolete) To shake (something); to stir, move. [8th–13th c.]
  2. (intransitive, now UK, regional) To stir; to move. [from 13th c.]
  3. (intransitive) To flinch; shrink.

Etymology 2

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From Middle English quich, a palatised variant of quike, quyke, from Old English cwice, from Proto-West Germanic *kwikwā, from Proto-Germanic *kwikwǭ. Cognate with Dutch kweek, German Low German Queek, German Quecke.

Alternative forms

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Noun

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quitch (uncountable)

  1. Elymus repens, couch grass (a species of grass, often considered a weed)
    Synonyms: couch grass, quackgrass
    • 1658, Sir Thomas Browne, Urne-Burial, Penguin, published 2005, page 21:
      we found the bones and ashes half mortered unto the sand and sides of the Urne; and some long roots of Quich, or Dogs-grass wreathed about the bones.
Derived terms
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Translations
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