quell

present singular third person quells · participle present quelling · participle past quelled · past quelled · first person past singular quelled · archaic present second person singular quellest · past second person singular quelled · archaic past second person singular quelledst · present singular third person quells · archaic present singular third person quelleth · past singular third person quelled · past plural quelled · past subjunctive quelled · participle present quelling · participle past quelled

1. transitiveTo subdue, put down, or silence (someone or something); to force (someone) to submit.First known use 10th c.

   Northward marching to quell the sudden revolt.

   1858 October 16, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “The Courtship of Miles Standish”, in The Courtship of Miles Standish, and Other Poems, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, →OCLC

   1 more example

   The nation obeyed the call, rallied round the sovereign, and enabled him to quell the disaffected minority.

   1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter I, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC

   Synonyms: crush

2. transitiveTo suppress, to put an end to (something); to extinguish.First known use 14th c.

   to quell grief

   2 more examples

   to quell the tumult of the soul

   However, after quelling Burnley's threat, Southampton failed to build on their growing danger culminating in Tadic's missed penalty.

   2014 December 13, Mandeep Sanghera, “Burnley 1-0 Southampton”, in BBC Sport

3. obsoletetransitiveTo kill.First known use 9th–19th c.

   Well prov'd in that same day, when Jove those gyants quelled.

   1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book V”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC

   1 more example

   Like barbarous miſcreants, they quelled Virgins vnto death, […]

   1625, Yvo of Narbena, Matthew Paris, “Part of an Epistle Written by One Yvo of Narbena vnto the Archbishop of Burdeaux, Containing the Confession of an Englishman, as Touching the Barbarous Demeanour of the Tartars, which had Liued Long among Them, and was Drawne along Perforce with Them in Their Expedition against Hungarie: Recorded by Matthew Paris in the Year [of] Our Lord 1243”, in [Samuel] Purchas, Purchas His Pilgrimes. […], 3rd part, London: […] William Stansby for Henrie Fetherstone, […], →OCLC, 1st book, pages 63–64

4. intransitiveobsoleteTo be subdued or abated; to diminish.First known use 16th–17th c.

   Winter's wrath begins to quell.

   1579, Immeritô [pseudonym; Edmund Spenser], The Shepheardes Calender: […], London: […] Iohn Wolfe for Iohn Harrison the yonger, […], →OCLC

5. To die.

   Yet he did quake and quaver, like to quell.

   1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book VII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC

plural quells

1. A subduing.

   The quell of the rebellion raised Justinian to the acme of power.

   1903, Knowledge: A Monthly Record of Science

   5 more examples

   Hu had been supportive of Chiang's role throughout the northern expedition and the quell of southern rebellion.

   1978, Shiu Heng Chook, Chiang Kai-shek Close-up: A Personal View

   The consequences have not been significant in terms of the quell of any of the three drugs into the United States.

   1994, United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on the Judiciary, U.S. international drug control policy: recent experience, future options : seminar proceedings, Government Printing Office, →ISBN

   Each Martial Law was marked by the quell of civil liberties or human rights.

   1998, Mirza Arshad Ali Beg, Democracy Displaced in Pakistan: Case History of Disasters of Social Pollution

   But to make things even worse, this is the year of the Seventy-fifth Hunger Games, and that means it's also a Quarter Quell. They occur every twenty-five years, marking the anniversary of the districts' defeat with over-the-top celebrations and, for extra fun, some miserable twist for the tributes.

   2013, Suzanne Collins, Catching Fire, UK: Scholastic

   An example can be found in the data about the campaigns of Aššur-bān-apli against Arab tribes after the quell of the revolt of Šamaš-šumukīn.

   2014, Markham J. Geller, Melammu: The Ancient World in an Age of Globalization, epubli, →ISBN, page 136

plural quells

1. A source, especially a spring.

   And when they had eaten, and sat resting in a grotto, he was still singing, and she was the goddess of his Muse, — the quell of living waters out of which he drew fresh strength for new lays.

   1894, George Egerton, Discords

   2 more examples

   Other excruciations replaced her namesake's loquacious quells so completely that when, during a lucid interval, she happened to open with her weak little hand a lavabo cock for a drink of water, the tepid lymph replied in its own lingo […]

   1969, Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov, Ada, Or, Ardor, a Family Chronicle, Vintage, →ISBN

   The strategists had access to a wide array of private polling and information from focus groups; a quell of information stretching back over his years as a state-wide candidate and office holder.

   2001, Hans-Dieter Klingemann, Andrea Römmele, Public Information Campaigns and Opinion Research: A Handbook for the Student and Practitioner, SAGE, →ISBN, page 82

2. An emotion or sensation which rises suddenly.

   I read on. It will cost two hundred and fifty quid. I felt a quell of alarm, that's quite expensive.

   2012, Molly Hopkins, It Happened at Boot Camp: Exclusive Novella, Hachette UK, →ISBN

   2 more examples

   A quell of strength over took Robin with each of his words. She was about to fall apart, but Jacob was as brave as a warrior going into battle.

   2001, Zane Gates, The Cure, iUniverse, →ISBN, page 241

   For a moment their eyes locked, and she felt a quell of anger rise above her apprehension. Reality struck with appalling clarity, yet she could only lie down, partially drugged and untidy as she was from such rough traveling.

   2011, Linda Lee Chaikin, Hawaiian Crosswinds, Moody Publishers, →ISBN