quotha

Q10U1O1T1H4A1

interjection

Forsooth; indeed.

Scrabble 18

Meanings

interjection
  1. archaicForsooth; indeed.

    The four boys pumped up their hate to hissing steam. Harmless, quotha. Innocent, forsooth.

    1959, Anthony Burgess, Beds in the East (The Malayan Trilogy), published 1972, page 596
    4 more examples

    Here[ticus]. Then I praie you tell me, when we shall mete agayne: Cath[olicus]. Mete againe? why art thou not well yet? Here[ticus]. Well yet quotha? Mary sir all this is nothynge to that I looke for.

    1554, John Gwynneth, chapter 30, in A Manifeste Detection of the Notable Falshed of That Part of John Frithes Boke Whiche He Calleth His Foundacion, London

    1678, Thomas d’Urfey, The Fool Turn’d Critick, London: James Magnes and Richard Bentley, Act II, Scene 2, p. 15, 1st. Fid[dler]. Will it please you Gentlemen to hear a new Lesson, or a Song A-la-mode. Sir For[mal]. S’bud you impertinent Raskal get you gone, / Or I’le so batter that Musical sconce of yours. / Song A-la-mode Quotha, I had as lieve hear a / Gibb Catt howl, and as much pleasure I take in’t.

    Mrs. Hardcastle. […] My son is not to live by his learning. I don’t think a boy wants much learning to spend fifteen hundred a year. Hardcastle. Learning, quotha! A mere composition of tricks and mischief.

    1773, Oliver Goldsmith, She Stoops to Conquer, London: F. Newbery, act I, pages 2–3

    A pretty way to conciliate 'little tempers' indeed, to add to the offence of spoiling the fish the crime of bringing an unexpected friend to eat it. Pot luck, quotha, when the pot's boiled over this half hour!

    1853, Pisistratus Caxton [pseudonym; Edward Bulwer-Lytton], chapter VII, in “My Novel”; Or Varieties in English Life […], volume I, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, book first, page 30

Origin

From quoth + a (“he”) (dialectal, obsolete).

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

quotha. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/quotha

MLA

“quotha.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/quotha. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “quotha,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/quotha.

Source: quotha on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.