Pl. quanta (rare). [L., neut. of quantus how much, how great.]
1. Sum, amount. = QUANTITY 2.
1619. Purchas, Microcosmus, xxxii. 302. To set The true Quantum, the true poize and price vpon himselfe.
1738. Hist. Crt. Excheq., iii. 43. To vote in the first Place, that the King should be supplied; in the next Place, the Quantum of the Supply.
1791. Newte, Tour Eng. & Scot., 179. The momentum of bodies depends on the quantum of their velocity multiplied into that of their matter.
1818. Cruise, Digest (ed. 2), I. 427. If the union and accession of the two estates were the cause of the merger, the quantum of the thing granted would be the measure of that merger.
b. = QUANTITY 7.
1815. W. H. Ireland, Scribbleomania, 33. His study has not been for quantum to strive, But with beauties to keep the attention alive.
2. = QUANTITY 12.
1647. H. More, Song of Soul, II. i. II. lv. Each quantum’s infinite, straight will be said.
1678. Cudworth, Intell. Syst., I. v. 783. Though it be an Absolute Contradiction, for a Body, or Quantum, to be … All of it in every Part of that Space, which the Whole is in.
1877. E. Caird, Philos. Kant, II. xi. 442. All phenomena, as perceived, are extensive quanta.
3. One’s share or portion.
1649. Jer. Taylor, Gt. Exemp., II. xii. 94. Poverty is her portion, and her quantum is but food and raiment.
1724. Swift, Drapier’s Lett., Wks. 1755, V. II. 60. He will double his present quantum by stealth as soon as he can.
1818. Bentham, Ch. Eng., 421. A Parish, in which the quantum of this soul-saving Mammon rises as high as 12,000l. a year.
1898. F. T. Bullen, Cruise ‘Cachalot,’ 167. Having completed our quantum of wood, water, and fresh provisions for the officers.
4. A (specified) amount. = QUANTITY 8.
1789. Belsham, Ess., I. ii. 19. Is there not a sufficient quantum of distress and misfortune?
1829. Carlyle, Misc. (1857), II. 113. Some smaller quantum of earthly enjoyment.
1852. W. Jerdan, Autobiog., II. xii. 137. Imbued with a moderate quantum of worldly wisdom.
b. = QUANTITY 8 c.
1735. Berkeley, Querist, I. § 215. Such a bank … was faulty in not limiting the quantum of bills.
1828. J. Ballantyne, Exam. Human Mind, II. 69. The mind … has always a tendency to possess the same quantum of ideas.
1879. E. R. Lankester, Advancem. Sc. (1890), 14. A struggle among all those born for the possession of the small quantum of food.
