1. The essence, nature, or distinctive peculiarity, of a thing; that which answers the question, Quid est or, What is it " The degree of nullity and quiddity." Bacon. The quiddity or characteristic difference of poetry as distinguished from prose. De Quincey.
2. A trifling nicety; a cavil; a quibble. We laugh at the quiddities of those writers now. Coleridge.
QUIDDLE
Quid"dle, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Quiddled; p. pr. & vb. n. Quiddling.]
Etym: [L. quid what.]
Defn: To spend time in trifling employments, or to attend to useful subjects in an indifferent or superficial manner; to dawdle.
QUIDDLE; QUIDDLER
Quid"dle, Quid"dler, n.
Defn: One who wastes his energy about trifles. Emerson.
QUIDNUNC
Quid"nunc, n. Etym: [L., what now]
Defn: One who is curious to know everything that passes; one who knows, or pretends to know, all that is going on. "The idle stories of quidnuncs." Motley.
QUIESCE
Qui*esce", v. i. [imp. & p. p. Quiesced; p. pr. & vb. n. Quiescing.]
Etym: [L. quiescere, akin to quies rest, quiet. See Quiet, a. & n.]
Defn: To be silent, as a letter; to have no sound. M. Stuart.