Forms: α. (4 wince), 5 qwince, quence, 5–6 quynce, quynse, (5 qw-), 7– quince. β. 6 quench, 6–7 quinch. [Prop. pl. of quine, quyne COYN (q.v.), used first as a collective and then as a sing.]
1. The hard, acid, yellowish, pear-shaped fruit of a small tree (Pyrus Cydonia) belonging to the pear-family, used in cookery as a preserve or to flavor dishes of other fruits; the seeds are also employed in medicine and the arts. Also, the tree bearing this fruit.
Several varieties are named after their localities, as the Barbary, Chinese, Japanese, Lyons, Portugal, etc., quince.
α. c. 1335. [see quince-tree in 3].
a. 1400. Pistill Susan (Phillips MS.), 102. Ouere her hedis gan hyng The qwince [Vernon MS. wince] and þe qwerdlyng.
c. 1430. Pallad. on Husb., II. 249. Ek graffe hem … In whit thorn in hem silf, in quynce also.
c. 1430. Two Cookery-bks., 51. Take fayre raw Quynces, & pare hem with a knyf.
1533. Elyot, Cast. Helthe (1539), 20 b. Quynces be colde and drye.
1604. E. G[rimstone], D’Acosta’s Hist. Indies, IV. xxxvii. 311. The quinces, poungranets, and other fruites there.
1731. Fielding, Grub St. Opera, III. iii. An apple-pye with quinces—why quinces, when you know quinces are so dear?
1875. H. C. Wood, Therap. (1879), 579. The seeds of the quince (Cydonium, U.S.) contain a large quantity of mucilage.
β. 1561. Hollybush, Hom. Apoth., 14. The karnels of quinches. Ibid., 27 b. As yelowe as a quenche.
1615. W. Lawson, Country Housew. Gard. (1626), 3. We meddle not with Apricocks nor Peaches, nor scarcely with Quinches.
2. Applied to other fruits or trees resembling the quince.
Bengal Quince: see BENGAL 2. Native Quince, the Australian bitter-bark, emu-apple, or quinine-tree. Wild Quince, the Australian black ash (Morris, Austral Engl.).
1876. Harley, Mat. Med. (ed. 6), 696. Indian Bael or Bengal Quince is common in India.
1882. Garden, 27 May, 358/2. What Mr. Ross calls … ‘the wild Quince’ is a handsome large flowered tree.
3. attrib. and Comb., as quince-apple, -cake, -cheese, -cream, -gun, -marmalade, -mucilage, -peach, -pear, -pie, -stock, -tinct, -tree, -wine, -wood.
1600. Surflet, Countrie Farme, III. xxv. 480. The male … is called the *quince apple.
1664. Evelyn, Kal. Hort. (1729), 216. Lording-Apple, Pear-Apple, Quince-Apple.
1616. Surflet & Markh., Country Farm, III. l. 423. To make *Quince-cakes thin [etc.].
1625. Massinger, New Way, II. ii. Put these few quince-cakes into your pocket.
1884. Leisure Hour, June, 375/1. Apple syrup, *quince cheese, candied fruits, were among the delicacies of the age.
1663. Boyle, Usef. Exp. Nat. Philos., II. i. A kinde of jelly, in colour and consistence not unlike *quince marmalade.
1664. Evelyn, Kal. Hort. (1729), 213. Roman Peach, Man Peach, *Quince Peach.
1552. Huloet, *Quince peare, cidonium.
1596. Barrough, Meth. Physick (ed. 3), 436. The iuice of quince peares and pomegranates.
1620. Venner, Via Recta, vii. 111. Quince-Peares are of a very hard and wooddish substance.
1608. Armin, Nest Ninn. (1842), 13. Hee tolde them it was a *quince pie.
1706. London & Wise, Retir’d Gard’ner, I. II. xii. 160. You would graft a Pear-tree upon a *Quince-stock.
1845. Browning, Flight of Duchess, xi. Her cheek … whitened thro’ all its *quince-tinct.
c. 1325. Gloss. W. de Bibbesw., in Wright, Voc., 163. A coyn-tre (*quince-tre), coigner.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVII. cxlviii. (MS. e Museo 16), Storax … is a tre of Arabia liche to a quynce tree.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 420/1. Quencetree, coctonus.
1707. Curios. in Husb. & Gard., 197. Vines, Fig-trees, Quince-Trees.
1837. Browning, Strafford, V. ii. Under a quince-tree by a fishpond side.
1706. Baynard, in Sir J. Floyer, Hot & Cold Bath., II. (1709), 239. Hey! for Lime-water, *Quince-wine.
1885. Lady Brassey, The Trades, 201. The principal exports … are … logwood … and *quince wood.
