quire
1 Americannoun
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a set of 24 uniform sheets of paper.
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Bookbinding. a section of printed leaves in proper sequence after folding; gathering.
noun
noun
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a set of 24 or 25 sheets of paper; a twentieth of a ream
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four sheets of paper folded once to form a section of 16 pages
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a section or gathering
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a set of all the sheets in a book
noun
Etymology
Origin of quire
1175–1225; Middle English quayer < Middle French quaier < Vulgar Latin *quaternum set of four sheets, derivative of Latin quarternī four each
Explanation
Like a ream or a bale, a quire is a quantity of paper. There are 25 sheets of paper in a quire, plenty for you to write that short story. A quire is one-twentieth of a ream, which today means 25 pieces of paper per quire. Originally, each quire contained 24 sheets, a measurement that's still occasionally used for handmade paper. During the Middle Ages, a quire was a little book or pamphlet made from four folded sheets of parchment. The name stems from the medieval Latin quaternum, "set of four sheets of parchment," and the root quater, "four times."
Vocabulary lists containing quire
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The soaring, light-filled quire in Rochester Cathedral has witnessed centuries of worship.
From BBC ● Jun. 18, 2026
The queen will be buried at the King George VI Memorial Chapel, which is next to the quire of the main St George's Chapel.
From Reuters ● Sep. 19, 2022
But the Bengals are quire charitable to opposing QBs, being picked apart at a 121.0 rating that is better than only Kansas City’s 121.4.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 19, 2021
No energy for a quire of paper to be scrawled across.
From New York Times ● Mar. 26, 2020
I have removed the final pages of this book as a quire, and it is my purpose to use them to demonstrate the arts of literacy.
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson
To duplicate the U.N. talks by per sonal visits to all the capitals of the statesmen he was seeing would have re quired a three-month, globe-girdling tour.
From Time Magazine Archive
The unwrapping of the old young body, a most delicate operation, re- quired seven days.
From Time Magazine Archive
What seemed like common sense to him was a legal spider web that Higgins was re- quired to think through.
From Terminal Compromise: computer terrorism: when privacy and freedom are the victims: a novel by Schwartau, Winn
He set down his barrow, and, putting upon himself the refined aspect that a conversation with a lady re- quired, spoke to Bathsheba over the gate.
From Far from the Madding Crowd by Hardy, Thomas
So to the sacred Sun in Memnon's fane Spontaneous concords quired the matin strain.
From The Botanic Garden A Poem in Two Parts. Part 1: the Economy of Vegetation by Darwin, Erasmus
He had just picked up a rail to lay it on the fire in better shape, when he heard a weak voice in quiring: "Does anybody know where the 200th Ind. is?"
From Si Klegg, Book 2 (of 6) Thru The Stone River Campaign And In Winter Quarters At Murfreesboro by McElroy, John
There's not the smallest orb that thou behold'st But in this motion like an angel sings, Still quiring to the young-eyed cherubim; Such harmony is in immortal souls!
From Bulfinch's Mythology: the Age of Fable by Bulfinch, Thomas
The windows, with their fleeting, flickering fires, The height and spread of frontage shining sheer, The quiring signs, the rejoicing roofs and spires - 'Tis El Dorado—El Dorado plain, The Golden City!
From Poems by Henley, William Ernest
She had gone out with him, and in some cloud-walled castle, murmurous with harmonies of quiring spheres, and gleaming with their radiance, they would dwell together.
From What Dreams May Come by Atherton, Gertrude Franklin Horn
And the sound of the quiring Of all these as one, Desired and desiring Till dawn's will be done, Fills full with delight of them heaven till it burns as the heart of the sun.
From Studies in Song by Swinburne, Algernon Charles
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
