subs. (old).—An eccentric; a QUEER card (q.v.).
1838. W. DIMOND, Stage Struck, sc. 4. Tom. That old QUISBY has certainly contrived to slink out of the house.
Adj. and adv. (common).—Bankrupt: drunk; upset; out-of-sorts; wrong: generic for misadventure.
1887. Punch, 30 July, 45. Arter this things appeared to go QUISBY.
1887. MILLIKEN, ’Arry Ballads, 27, ‘’Arry at the Sea-side.’ There’s bound to be lots on ’em QUISBY Ibid. (1890), 80, ‘’Arry on the Sincerest Form of Flattery.’. Makes me feel quite QUISBY.
TO DO QUISBY, verb. phr. (common).—See quot.
1851–61. H. MAYHEW, London Labour and the London Poor, III. 219. One morning when we had been DOING QUISBY, that is stopping idle.
