Forms: 4 querele, 4–5 (6) querel, 5 qwerell(e, 6 querel(l, 6–7 Sc. quer(r)ell; 4–5 quarele, 5 qv-, quarelle, 5–6 quarell, (5 qw-), 5–7 quarel, 6 quarrel, (6–7 -ell). [a. OF. querele, -elle:—L. querēla, -ella complaint, f. querī to complain. The spelling quar(r)- was the prevailing one by Caxton’s time; later examples of quer(r)- are chiefly Sc.: see also QUERELE.]
† 1. A complaint; esp. a complaint against a person; hence in Law: an accusation or charge; an action or suit. Obs.
c. 1374. Chaucer, Boeth., III. pr. iii. 55 (Camb. MS.). For whennes comyn elles alle thyse foreyne compleyntes or quereles of pletynges [L. forenses querimoniæ].
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, V. heading, Of the Qwerell of Kyng Priam for his Fader dethe.
1454. Rolls Parlt., V. 258/2. In all maner Actions … suytes, quereles and demandes.
1483. Caxton, Gold. Leg., 219/2. They sayd wyth swete and deuout quarelles why she suffred her deuoute seruaunte to dye wythout confessyon.
1535. Coverdale, Acts xxv. 7. Ye Iewes … broughte vp many and greuous quarels agaynst Paul.
1583. Exec. for Treason (1675), 13. None of them have been sought hitherto to be impeached in any point or quarrel of Treason.
1641. Termes de la Ley, 230 b. Qvarels … extendeth not onely to actions … but also to the causes of actions & suits.
2. A ground or occasion of complaint against a person, leading to hostile feeling or action; a cause for which one person has unfriendly or unfavorable feelings towards another; also, the state or course of hostility resulting from such ground of complaint. Const. against, † to, later with. Now rare. To pick a quarrel: see PICK v.
1340. Ayenb., 83. Ine oþre quereles huanne me mysnymþ [it may be amended] … ac errour ine batayle ne may naȝt by amended.
1390. Gower, Conf., III. 303. Love hath mad him a querele Ayein hire youthe friissh and frele.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 1763. To quit claym all querels, & be qweme fryndes.
1489. Caxton, Faytes of A., I. xviii. 52. What theyre herte sayth of the quarell and what wylle they haue for to fyght.
1526. Tindale, Col. iii. 13. Forgevynge one another (if eny man have a quarrell to a nother).
1603. Knolles, Hist. Turks (1621), 306. Although they be in number moe than you, yet are they in hope, quarrell, and strength, farre inferiour.
a. 1633. Austin, Medit. (1635), 249. The Devill hath the same Quarrell to us Men, that hee had to Christ.
1655. Fuller, Ch. Hist., II. v. § 43. Ethelred … with whom Dunstan had a quarrel from his cradle.
1749. Fielding, Tom Jones, XV. vii. All the quarrel the squire hath to me is for taking your part.
1760–72. H. Brooke, Fool of Qual. (1809), I. 32. I have no quarrel, I cried, to the high and mighty my lords and merchants.
b. With possessive pron., or genitive: One’s cause, side or party in a complaint or contest; † one’s claim to a thing.
1380. Lay Folks Catech., 1287. Hertely in godes querel to withstonde … in al þat we may.
1390. Gower, Conf., I. 29. That he wol take the querele Of holy cherche in his defence.
c. 1440. Generydes, 3536. Off all this land I geve vppe my quarell.
c. 1489. Caxton, Blanchardyn, xxxiv. 126. He was aduertysed … of the cause & quarelle of Blanchardyn.
1593. Shaks., 2 Hen. VI., III. ii. 233. Thrice is he arm’d, that hath his Quarrell iust.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Georg., IV. 318. When their Sov’reign’s Quarrel calls ’em out, His Foes to mortal Combat they defie.
1755. Young, Centaur, i. Wks. 1757, IV. 124. The … heart commands the … head, to fight its unjust quarrel, and say it is its own.
1808. Scott, Life Dryden, in D.’s Wks. (1882), I. 172. Were a nobleman to have recourse to hired bravoes to avenge his personal quarrel against any one.
1892. Stevenson, Across the Plains, xii. 313. In our own quarrel we can see nothing truly.
c. With adjs., specifying the justice or other aspect of the cause or ground of contention. † Of great quarrel: of importance.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Sel. Wks., III. 323. Alle mysdoeris … meyntenen a fals quarele aȝenst God and his seyntis.
1456. Sir G. Haye, Law Arms (S.T.S.), 73. Oft tymes … he that has gude rycht tynis the felde, and the wrang querele wynnis.
a. 1533. Ld. Berners, Huon, xlix. 164. By a iust quarell ye may go and make warre vpon hym.
1590. T. Heneage, in Lett. Lit. Men (Camden), 48. Her Highness dowteth that yt may breed discredyt to dyvers of great quarrell.
1651. Hobbes, Leviath., II. xix. 97. Sufficient provision being taken, against all just quarrell.
1715–20. Pope, Iliad, III. 309. Perhaps their swords some nobler quarrel draws.
c. 1806. H. Kirke White, Christmas Day, 10, Poems (1837), 118. Me higher quarrel calls, with loudest song.
1863. Ruskin, Arrows of Chace (1880), II. 25. I would have the country go to war, with haste, in a good quarrel.
† d. transf. Cause, reason, ground, plea. Obs.
1456. Sir G. Haye, Law Arms (S.T.S.), 184. The King of France has querele to mak were apon the King of Ungary.
1476. J. Paston, in P. Lett., III. 164. Then he shold be swer that I shold not be flyttyng, and I had syche a qwarell to kepe me at home.
1545. Ascham, Toxoph., To Gentlem. Eng. (Arb.), 20. A fletcher hath euen as good a quarell to be angry with an archer.
1607–12. Bacon, Ess. Marriage (Arb.), 270. So as a Man may have a quarrell to marrye when he will.
1633. Bp. Hall, Hard Texts, N. T., 142. Judas of Galilee,… upon the quarrell of the Taxes laid by Cæsar … made an insurrection.
† 3. An objection, opposition, dislike or aversion to a thing Obs.
1581. W. Stafford, Exam. Compl., Pref. (1876), 3. I haue indeuoured in fewe wordes to aunswere certayne quarells and obiections dayly and ordinarily occurrent in the talke of sundry men.
1601. Holland, Pliny, II. 249. In the disease Tinesmus (which is an inordinat quarrell to the stool).
1654–66. Earl Orrery, Parthen. (1676), 567. It created a general quarrel to Fortune.
1720. Lady Landsdown, in Lett. C’tess Suffolk (1824), I. 70. I … shall be tempted to have a quarrel to matrimony.
b. Const. with (as in 2 and 4).
1726. Swift, Gulliver, III. iv. What quarrel I had with the dress or looks of his domestics?
4. A violent contention or altercation between persons, or of one person with another; a rupture of friendly relations.
1572. Huloet, Quarell, controuersia, contentio, jurgium [etc.].
1596. Shaks., Merch. V., V. i. 238. I am th’vnhappy subiect of these quarrels. Ibid., Tam. Shr., I. ii. 27. Rise Grumio rise, we will compound this quarrell.
1639. T. Brugis, trans. Camus’ Mor. Relat., 211. A man very valiant of his hands, but hot brained, he had had many quarrels.
1717. Lady M. W. Montagu, Lett. to Pope, 12 Feb. I was very uneasy till they were parted, fearing some quarrel might arise.
1769. Blackstone, Comm., IV. xiv. 191. If upon a sudden quarrel two persons fight, and one of them kills the other, this is manslaughter.
1818. Scott, Rob Roy, x. He will take care to avoid a quarrel … with any of the natives.
1838. Thirlwall, Greece, V. 265. The quarrels between the Phocians and their Locrian neighbours.
1876. Mozley, Univ. Serm., x. (1877), 204. People rush into quarrels from simple violence and impetuosity of temper.
† b. Quarrelling; quarrelsomeness. Obs. rare.
1604. Shaks., Oth., II. iii. 52. He’l be as full of Quarrell, and offence As my yong Mistris dogge.
1605. Bacon, Adv. Learn., I. vii. § 2. All beasts … forgetting their severall appetites; some of pray, some of game, some of quarrell.
5. Comb. as quarrel-breeder.
1611. Cotgr., Sursemeur de noises, a make-bate, firebrand of contention, quarrell-breeder.
