Quaker City. Philadelphia, the seat of the Quaker colony founded by William Penn.
Quaker Poet. The sobriquet of Bernard Barton.
Quakers. The origin of this designation of the “Society of Friends” is thus given by George Fox, the founder of the sect in his Journal: “Justice Bennet of Derby was the first to call us ‘Quakers,’ because I bade him quake and tremble at the word of the Lord.” This occurred in 1650.
Quarantine. Agreeably to the French quarantaine, the period of a ship’s detention outside a port in the circumstances of infectious disease should be forty days.
Quarter Sessions. See “[Petty Sessions].”
Quarto. In the printing and stationery trades this term expresses a sheet of paper which, when folded into quarters, makes four leaves or eight pages.
Quassia. A tonic obtained from the bark of a tree of South America, the virtues of which were discovered by a Negro of this name.
Quatemala. When the Indians who accompanied Alvarado into this region discovered the ruins of an ancient palace of the kings beside an old worm-eaten tree they assumed this to be the centre of the country, and gave it the name of Quahtemali, “a decayed log of wood.”
Quebec. Indian for “take care of the rock.”
Queen Anne’s Bounty. A perpetual fund raised by the augmentation of the tithes and first-fruits at the instance of Queen Anne for the benefit of the poor clergy whose incomes are insufficient for their proper maintenance.