qualm
English
Alternative forms
- calm (dialectal)
Etymology
2=gʷelHPlease see Module:checkparams for help with this warning.
Perhaps from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Middle English qualm, cwalm (“death, sickness, plague”), which is from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Old English cwealm (West Saxon: "death, disaster, plague"), ūtcualm (Anglian: "utter destruction"), from Proto-West Germanic *kwalm (“killing, death, destruction”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʷelH- (“to stick, pierce; pain, injury, death”), whence also quell. Although the sense development is possible, this has the problem that there are no attestations in intermediate senses before the appearance of "pang of apprehension, etc." in the 16th century. The alternative etymology is from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Dutch kwalm or (deprecated template usage) [etyl] German Qualm "steam, vapor, mist," earlier "daze, stupefaction", which is from the root of German quellen (“stream, well up”). The sense "feeling of faintness" is from 1530; "uneasiness, doubt" from 1553; "scruple of conscience" from 1649.
Pronunciation
- Lua error in Module:parameters at line 290: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "GenAm" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): /kwɑm/, /kwɔm/, /kwɑlm/
- Lua error in Module:parameters at line 290: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "RP" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): /kwɑːm/, /kwɔːm/
Noun
qualm (plural qualms)
- A feeling of apprehension, doubt, fear etc. [from 16th c.]
- 2012 August 25, Andy Pasztor, “Armstrong, First Man on Moon, Dies”, in Wall Street Journal[1], retrieved 2012-08-26:
- Opponents of those privatization plans hoped to use Mr. Armstrong's qualms as ammunition to block the White House initiatives, and they asked for more public statements.
- A sudden sickly feeling; queasiness. [from 16th c.]
- A prick of the conscience; a moral scruple, a pang of guilt. (Now chiefly in negative constructions.) [from 17th c.]
- This lawyer has no qualms about saving people who are on the wrong side of the law.
- (archaic, UK dialectal) Mortality; plague; pestilence.
- (archaic, UK dialectal) A calamity or disaster.
Synonyms
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
|
|
|
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
|
Verb
qualm (third-person singular simple present qualms, present participle qualming, simple past and past participle qualmed)
- (intransitive) To have a sickly feeling.
References
- Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “qualm”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
Middle English
Alternative forms
Etymology
From Old English cwealm, from Proto-West Germanic *kwalm.
Pronunciation
Noun
qualm
- Plague, disease or sickness; that which afflicts.
- The effects, fruits, or ravages of plague.
- (rare) Killing (as a concept or as an instance)
Descendants
References
- “qualm (n.(1))”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-11-12.
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Old English
- English terms inherited from Proto-West Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-West Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English terms derived from Dutch
- English terms derived from German
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with quotations
- English terms with usage examples
- English terms with archaic senses
- British English
- English dialectal terms
- English verbs
- English intransitive verbs
- English negative polarity items
- Middle English terms inherited from Old English
- Middle English terms derived from Old English
- Middle English terms inherited from Proto-West Germanic
- Middle English terms derived from Proto-West Germanic
- Middle English terms with IPA pronunciation
- Middle English lemmas
- Middle English nouns
- Middle English terms with rare senses
- enm:Death
- enm:Disease