quirk
[kwurk]
- a peculiarity of action, behavior, or personality; mannerism: He is full of strange quirks.
- a shift, subterfuge, or evasion; quibble.
- a sudden twist or turn: He lost his money by a quirk of fate.
- a flourish or showy stroke, as in writing.
- Architecture.
- an acute angle or channel, as one dividing two parts of a molding or one dividing a flush bead from the adjoining surfaces.
- an area taken from a larger area, as a room or a plot of ground.
- an enclosure for this area.
- Obsolete. a clever or witty remark; quip.
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- formed with a quirk or channel, as a molding.
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Origin of quirk
First recorded in 1540–50; origin uncertain
Synonyms
See more synonyms for on Thesaurus.com1. See eccentricity.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
twistvagaryhabittraitaberrationkinkcharacteristicpeculiaritymannerismidiosyncrasyeccentricityfoiblewhimhumorcrotchetconceitwhimsyfancycapriceturnExamples from the Web for quirk
Contemporary Examples
And that luxury may be a quirk of America, or at least white America.
Kevin Fallon on the quirk of history that demands two swearing-in ceremonies for this particular president.
As a tempting virgin she was able to live long enough to be saved, but this was the quirk of a market controlled by foreigners.
A quirk in two political-prediction markets has created a (practically) no-lose investment opportunity—almost $100, for free.
Banville seemed to be running on empty with that book, but Quirk has energized him (four Quirke novels since 2006).
Historical Examples
There was the quirk in her brain; we all have a quirk somewhere, and that was hers.
I've thought of every possibility, every possible crook and quirk of this business.
No ClueJames Hay
Prove that, Mr. Quirk, and you need trouble yourself no more!
Ten Thousand a-Year (Vol. 2)Samuel Warren
I've had very little to do with them; Quirk, Gammon, and Snap—these are the people, eh?
Ten Thousand a-Year (Vol. 2)Samuel Warren
Through his thoughts a quirk of memory ran like a tongue of flame.
CythereaJoseph Hergesheimer
quirk
- an individual peculiarity of character; mannerism or foible
- an unexpected twist or turna quirk of fate
- a continuous groove in an architectural moulding
- a flourish, as in handwriting
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Word Origin
C16: of unknown origin
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for quirk
n.
1560s, "quibble, evasion," of unknown origin, perhaps connected to German quer (see queer (adj.)) via notion of twisting and slanting; but its earliest appearance in western England dialect seems to argue against this source. Perhaps originally a technical term for a twist or flourish in weaving. Sense of "peculiarity" is c.1600.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper