Meanings
comparative more qualmish · superlative most qualmish
- Affected with qualms; queasy, nauseous.First known use 16th c.
I awoke rather qualmish, but, dressing and going upon deck, the sharp air recovered me.
1808–10, William Hickey, Memoirs of a Georgian Rake, Folio Society 1995, p. 773 more examples
I am plaguy qualmiſh this morning, vve drunk ſvvingingly laſt night, vvhat did vve do? tell me the Hiſtory.
1691, Tho[mas] Shadwell, The Scowrers. A Comedy, […], London: […] James Knapton, […], →OCLC, Act I, page 1Then, how comparatively sweet was everything on board - no paint, no tar, no new rope, (vilest of smells to the qualmish!) no grease, or oil, or varnish; but instead of these, bamboo and rattan, and coir rope and palm thatch; pure vegetable fibres, which smell pleasantly if they smell at all, and recall quiet scenes in the green and shady forest.
1869, Alfred Russel Wallace, The Malay Archipelago, volume II, London: Macmillan and Co., page 162I had sought out a dark corner, since by now I did indeed feel rather qualmish inside my yellow skin.
2001, WG Sebald, translated by Anthea Bell, Austerlitz, Penguin, published 2011, page 53
Origin
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with qualmish
All rhymes →Cite this entry
qualmish. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/qualmish
“qualmish.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/qualmish. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “qualmish,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/qualmish.
Source: qualmish on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.