Dictionary.com
definitions
  • synonyms

quote

[kwoht]
See more synonyms for quote on Thesaurus.com
verb (used with object), quot·ed, quot·ing.
  1. to repeat (a passage, phrase, etc.) from a book, speech, or the like, as by way of authority, illustration, etc.
  2. to repeat words from (a book, author, etc.).
  3. to use a brief excerpt from: The composer quotes Beethoven's Fifth in his latest work.
  4. to cite, offer, or bring forward as evidence or support.
  5. to enclose (words) within quotation marks.
  6. Commerce.
    1. to state (a price).
    2. to state the current price of.
Show More
verb (used without object), quot·ed, quot·ing.
  1. to make a quotation or quotations, as from a book or author.
  2. (used by a speaker to indicate the beginning of a quotation.)
Show More
noun
  1. a quotation.
  2. quotation mark.
Show More
Idioms
  1. quote unquote, so called; so to speak; as it were: If you're a liberal, quote unquote, they're suspicious of you.
Show More

Origin of quote

1350–1400; 1880–85 for def 9; Middle English coten, quoten (< Old French coter) < Medieval Latin quotāre to divide into chapters and verses, derivative of Latin quot how many
Related formsquot·er, nounout·quote, verb (used with object), out·quot·ed, out·quot·ing.pre·quote, verb (used with object), pre·quot·ed, pre·quot·ing.re·quote, verb (used with object), re·quot·ed, re·quot·ing.su·per·quote, verb, su·per·quot·ed, su·per·quot·ing, nounun·quot·ed, adjective
Can be confusedquotation quote
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for quoting

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • When we only spoil you by praising and quoting everything you say.

    Malbone

    Thomas Wentworth Higginson

  • I got a dispatch from, him quoting the Virago of Paris—meaning the Figaro, of course.

  • So one might go on quoting felicity for ever from this writer.

    Green Mansions

    W. H. Hudson

  • I can only vouch for its veracity by quoting the famous phrase, "If you see it in the Sun, it is so."

    Concerning Cats

    Helen M. Winslow

  • “The realisation is a terrible thing,” writes our Scribe, quoting his Master.

    The Book of Khalid

    Ameen Rihani

British Dictionary definitions for quoting

quote

verb
  1. to recite a quotation (from a book, play, poem, etc), esp as a means of illustrating or supporting a statement
  2. (tr) to put quotation marks round (a word, phrase, etc)
  3. stock exchange to state (a current market price) of (a security or commodity)
Show More
noun
  1. an informal word for quotation (def. 1), quotation (def. 2), quotation (def. 3), quotation (def. 4)
  2. (often plural) an informal word for quotation mark put it in quotes
Show More
interjection
  1. an expression used parenthetically to indicate that the words that follow it form a quotationthe president said, quote, I shall not run for office in November, unquote
Show More

Word Origin

C14: from Medieval Latin quotāre to assign reference numbers to passages, from Latin quot how many
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 quoting

quote

v.

late 14c., coten, "to mark (a book) with chapter numbers or marginal references," from Old French coter, from Medieval Latin quotare "distinguish by numbers, number chapters," from Latin quotus "which in order? what number (in sequence)?," from quot "how many," from PIE *kwo-ti-, from pronomial root *kwo- (see who).

The sense development is via "to give as a reference, to cite as an authority" (1570s) to "to copy out or repeat exact words" (1670s). Modern spelling with qu- is from early 15c. The business sense of "to state the price of a commodity" (1866) revives the etymological meaning. Related: Quoted; quoting.

Show More

quote

n.

"a quotation," 1885, from quote (v.). From c.1600 as "a marginal reference." Quotes for "quotation marks" is from 1869.

Show More
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper