Forms: 3 Orm. cwennkenn, 3–5 quenchen, 3–6 quenche, 4– quench, (also 4–5 qwench, whench, 5 quynche, 6 quence, -she, 7 quensh). Pa. t. 3 cwen(ch)te, quein(c)te, 5 queynte, 6 qwent; 4– quenched (4–5 -id, -yd). Pa. pple. 3 Orm. cwennkedd, (-enn), 4 ykuenct (-ȝt), -quenct, 4–5 (i)queynt, (5 yqueynte), 4–6 queint, quaynt, 6 quent; 4– quenched (4–5 -id, 5 -yd). [Early ME. cwenken, quenchen:—OE. *cwęncan (cf. ácwęncan AQUENCH):—*cwancjan, causative form corresponding to the strong vb. cwincan (ácwincan) to go out, be extinguished = Fris. kwinka (see QUINKLE): cf. drench, drink.]
I. trans. 1. To put out, extinguish (fire, flame or light, lit or fig.). † Also with out. Now rhet.
a. 1200. Moral Ode, 249. Þet fur … ne mei nawiht hit quenchen.
c. 1200. Ormin, 10126. Waterr hafeþþ mahht To sleckenn fir & cwennkenn.
c. 1320. Cast. Love, 1708. Fyre that may not be queynte.
1340. Ayenb., 186. Huanne hit faileþ, þet uer is y-kuenct.
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), I. 119. Ȝif þe liȝt is i-queynt, it duppeþ doun and dryncheþ.
1481. Caxton, Myrr., III. xiii. 161. In one day alle the fyre thurgh out Rome faylled and was quenchid.
1581. Rich, Farew. I … will not … extinguishe or quence the flames of so fervent and constaunte a love.
1604. E. G[rimstone], D’Acosta’s Hist. Indies, III. viii. 142. Greene wood … smoakes most when the flame is quenched.
1622. Massinger & Dekker, Virg. Mart., II. iii. O! my admired mistress, quench not out The holy fires within you.
1713. Berkeley, Guardian, No. 35, ¶ 5. He had almost quenched that light which his Creator had set up in his soul.
1810. Scott, Lady of L., III. xi. Quench thou his light, Destruction dark!
1880. Mrs. Forrester, Roy & V., I. 49. A tear comes into either eye and quenches the fire there.
b. To put out, extinguish, the fire or flame of (something that burns or gives light, lit. and fig.). † Also with away, out. Now only rhet.
1382. Wyclif, 2 Chron. xxix. 7. Thei … quencheden the lanterns. Ibid. (1382), Isa. xlii. 3. Flax smokende he shal not quenchen. Ibid. (1382), Eph. vi. 16. Ȝe mown quenche alle the firy dartis of the worste enmye.
1413. Pilgr. Sowle, II. lxi. (1859), 58. Wax smelleth wors after it is quenchid, than doth any talowe.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, IV. ii. 60. The lycht of day Ay mair and mair the mone quenchit away.
1548. Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. Matt. xii. 71. He wyll not quenche out the smokyng flaxe.
1604. Shaks., Oth., II. i. 15. The winde-shak’d-Surge … Seemes to … quench the Guards of th’euer-fixed Pole.
[1667. Milton, P. L., XII. 492. Able to resist Satans assaults, and quench his fierie darts.]
1810. Scott, Lady of L., III. xi. The … points of Sparkling Wood He quenched among the bubbling blood.
1853. C. Brontë, Villette, xxii. There stood the candle quenched on the drawers.
1870. Morris, Earthly Par., I. I. 392. As she turned … To quench the lamp.
c. To destroy the sight or light of (the eye).
1667. Milton, P. L., III. 25. These eyes, that rowle in vain … So thick a drop serene hath quencht thir Orbs.
1792. S. Rogers, Pleas. Mem., II. 137. When age has quenched the eye and closed the ear.
1850. Mrs. Browning, Lam. for Adonis, ii. His eyeballs lie quenched.
2. To extinguish (heat or warmth, lit or fig.) by cooling. † Also with out.
1406. Hoccleve, La Male Regle, 135. Heuy purs, with herte liberal, Qwenchith the thirsty hete of hertes drie. Ibid. (c. 1410), Mother of God, 28. That al the hete of brennyng Leccherie He qwenche in me.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, IV. Prol. 119. Heit … in to agit failȝeis, and is out quent.
1604. E. G[rimstone], D’Acosta’s Hist. Indies, III. ix. 150. A kinde of cold so piercing, that it quencheth the vitall heate.
1884. Tennyson, Becket, II. ii. Pity, my lord, that you have quenched the warmth of France toward you.
b. To cool (a heated object) by means of cold water or other liquid.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., VII. xxxv. (1495), 250. Gotes mylke in the whyche stones of ryuers ben quenchyd.
1460–70. Bk. Quintessence, 7. Þanne quenche ȝoure floreyn in þe beste whiȝt wiyn.
1584. Cogan, Haven Health, x. (1636), 34. [Rice] … boyled in Milke wherein hot stones have beene quenched.
1612. Woodall, Surg. Mate, Wks. (1653), 358. Hot Bricks, somewhat quenched with water.
1747. Wesley, Prim. Physick (1762), 61. Quench it in half a Pint of French white Wine.
1826. Scott, Woodst., i. Was the steel quenched with water from Rosamond’s well.
fig. 1719. Young, Paraphr. Job, Wks. 1757, I. 208. Who can refresh the burning sandy plain, And quench the summer with a waste of rain?
† c. To slake (lime). Obs. rare.
1577. Harrison, England, II. xii. (1877), I. 234. The white lime … being quenched.
1643. J. Steer, trans. Exp. Chyrurg., i. 3. When Lyme is quenched … it is … heated.
3. transf. To put an end to, stifle, suppress (a feeling, act, condition, quality, or other non-material thing, in early use chiefly something bad).
c. 1200. Ormin, 4911. All idell ȝellp & idell ros þu cwennkesst.
c. 1325. Songs of Mercy, in E. E. P. (1862), 120. I whenched al þi care.
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. Wace (Rolls), 16357. Louerd! þou quenche his wykkednesse.
1494. Fabyan, Chron., V. xci. 67. In thyse Prouynces the faythe of Criste was all quenchyd.
1545. Brinklow, Compl., iii. (1874), 16. How mercifully dyd God quench the fury of the peple.
1632. Lithgow, Trav., II. 84. Quenching the least suspition he might conceiue.
1742. Young, Nt. Th., II. 340. All god-like passion for eternals quencht.
1833. Ht. Martineau, Loom & Lugger, II. v. 81. The observance of this rule would soon quench the desire for protection.
1876. Tait, Rec. Adv. Phys. Sci., vii. (ed. 2), 172. The final effect of the tides in stopping or quenching the earth’s rotation.
b. To slake (thirst) completely; † rarely, to satisfy or dispel (hunger).
1390. Gower, Conf., II. 201. Thus the thurst of gold was queynt.
a. 1533. Ld. Berners, Gold. Bk. M. Aurel. (1546), D ij b. His hunger is not thereby quenched.
1535. Coverdale, Ps. ciii[i]. 11. That the wylde asses maye quench their thyrste.
1661. Lovell, Hist. Anim. & Min., 235. Stickle-backs … serve better to quench hunger, than to nourish.
1752. Young, Brothers, IV. i. Friends, sworn to … quench infernal thirst in kindred blood.
1841. Elphinstone, Hist. Ind., I. 489. Where they could quench their thirst at a well of brackish water.
† c. With personal object. Obs. rare.
1611. Shaks., Cymb., V. v. 195. Being thus quench’d Of hope, not longing [etc.].
1614. B. Jonson, Barth. Fair, II. ii. A botle of Ale, to quench mee, Rascal.
4. To destroy, kill (a person); to oppress or crush. † Also with out. Now rare.
c. 1200. Ormin, 19632. Þeȝȝ wolldenn himm forrfarenn all & cwennkenn.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Sel. Wks., III. 363. He wiþ his part þat loveþ þe world quenchen men þat speken þis.
1399. Langl., Rich. Redeles, III. 327. They constrewed quarellis to quenche the peple.
1567. Triall Treas. (1850), 44. I, Tyme,… quenche out the ungodly, their memory and fame.
1850. S. Dobell, The Roman, iv. Poet. Wks. (1875), I. 54. Oh sea, if thou hast waves, Quench him!
1859. Tennyson, Vivien, 216 (67). His greatness whom she quench’d.
absol. c. 1200. Ormin, 15213. Swillc iss winess kinde, ȝiff… mann drinnkeþþ itt att oferrdon, itt cwennkeþþ.
b. To put down (in a dispute), to squash.
1840. Dickens, Barn. Rudge, ix. I knew I should quench her, said Tim.
1868. Louisa M. Alcott, Little Women (1869), I. vi. 94. Jo quenched her by slamming down the window.
† 5. To destroy some quality of (a thing). Obs.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVI. vii. (1495), 556. Quycke syluer … is quenchyd wyth spotyll whanne it is frotyd therwyth.
II. intr. † 6. Of fire, a burning thing, etc.: To be extinguished, to go out, to cease to burn or shine. Obs.
c. 1290. S. Eng. Leg., I. 19/6. Heore liȝt queincte ouer-al.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Knt.’s T., 1479. Right anon on of the fires queinte … And as it queinte, it made a whisteling.
1460. Lybeaus Disc., 1805. The torches that brende bryght Quenched anon ryght.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, IV. xii. 121. Thair with all the naturall heit out quent.
c. 1586. C’tess Pembroke, Ps. CXX. iv. Coales … which quickly fired, Flame very hott, very hardly quenching.
1623. Fletcher, Bloody Brother, IV. iii. Like a false star that quenches as it glides.
† b. transf. Of non-material things: To come to an end, perish, disappear. Obs.
c. 1305. St. Edmund, 111, in E. E. P. (1862), 74. Quenche miȝte hire fole þoȝt mid blod þat heo schadde.
c. 1400. Rom. Rose, 5324. This love … wole faile, and quenche anoon.
1641. Milton, Reform., Wks. 1738, I. 16. The Spirit daily quenching and dying in them.
† c. Of a person: To cool down. Obs. rare–1.
1611. Shaks., Cymb., I. v. 47. Dost thou thinke in time She will not quench, and let instructions enter Where Folly now possesses.
Hence Quenched ppl. a., extinguished.
1814. Byron, Lara, I. xxix. Quench’d existence crouches in a grave.
1825. J. Neal, Bro. Jonathan, III. 412. He could not bear the look of the quenched eyes.
1868. Browning, Ring & Bk., VI. 148. To relume the quenched flax.
