Adjacent Words

Quirk definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

QUIRK, n. quurk.
1. Literally, a turn; a starting from the point or line; hence, an artful turn for evasion or subterfuge; a shift; a quibble; as the quirks of a pettifogger.
2. A fit or turn; a short paroxysm; as a quirk of joy or grief.
3. A smart taunt or retort.
I may chance to have some odd quirks and remnants of wit broken on me.
4. A slight conceit or quibble.
5. A flight of fancy. [Not in use.]
6. An irregular air; as light quirks of music.
7. In building, a piece of ground taken out of any regular ground-plot or floor, as to mark a court or yard, etc.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a strange attitude or habit [syn: oddity, queerness, quirk, quirkiness, crotchet]
2: a narrow groove beside a beading v
1: twist or curve abruptly; "She quirked her head in a peculiar way"

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Etymology: origin unknown Date: 1565 1. a. an abrupt twist or curve b. a peculiar trait ; idiosyncrasy c. accident, vagary <a quirk of fate> 2. a groove separating a bead or other molding from adjoining members • quirkily adverb • quirkiness noun • quirkish adjective • quirky adjective II. verb Date: 1878 curve, twist <quirked his eyebrows>

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 a peculiarity of behaviour. 2 a trick of fate; a freak. 3 a flourish in writing. 4 (often attrib.) Archit. a hollow in a moulding. Derivatives: quirkish adj. quirky adj. (quirkier, quirkiest). quirkily adv. quirkiness n. Etymology: 16th c.: orig. unkn.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Quirk Quirk, n. [Written also querk.] [Cf W. chwiori to turn briskly, or E. queer.] 1. A sudden turn; a starting from the point or line; hence, an artful evasion or subterfuge; a shift; a quibble; as, the quirks of a pettifogger. ``Some quirk or . . . evasion.'' --Spenser. We ground the justification of our nonconformity on dark subtilties and intricate quirks. --Barrow. 2. A fit or turn; a short paroxysm; a caprice. [Obs.] ``Quirks of joy and grief.'' --Shak. 3. A smart retort; a quibble; a shallow conceit. Some odd quirks and remnants of wit. --Shak. 4. An irregular air; as, light quirks of music. --Pope. 5. (Building) A piece of ground taken out of any regular ground plot or floor, so as to make a court, yard, etc.; -- sometimes written quink. --Gwilt. 6. (Arch.) A small channel, deeply recessed in proportion to its width, used to insulate and give relief to a convex rounded molding. Quirk molding, a bead between two quirks.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(quirks) 1. A quirk is something unusual or interesting that happens by chance. By a tantalising quirk of fate, the pair have been drawn to meet in the first round of the championship... N-COUNT: usu with supp, N of n, adj N 2. A quirk is a habit or aspect of a person's character which is odd or unusual. Brown was fascinated by people's quirks and foibles. N-COUNT

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. 1. Evasion, shift, make-shift, loophole, quibble, pretence, pretext, excuse. 2. Taunt, gibe, jeer, sally, quip.

Moby Thesaurus

aberration, anamorphism, anamorphosis, aroma, asymmetry, attribute, badge, boutade, brainstorm, brand, buckle, cachet, capriccio, caprice, cast, cavil, character, characteristic, conceit, configuration, contortion, crank, craze, crazy idea, crookedness, crotchet, cut, detorsion, deviation, differentia, differential, disproportion, distinctive feature, distortion, dodge, earmark, eccentricity, fad, fancy, fantastic notion, fantasy, feature, figure, flavor, flimflam, fool notion, freak, freakish inspiration, gnarl, gust, habit, hallmark, harebrained idea, humor, idiocrasy, idiosyncrasy, imbalance, impress, impression, index, individualism, irregularity, jesuitism, keynote, kink, knot, lineaments, lopsidedness, maggot, mannerism, mark, marking, megrim, minauderie, mold, nature, notion, oddity, odor, particularity, passing fancy, peculiar trait, peculiarity, property, quality, quibble, quiddity, quillet, quip, quodlibet, savor, screw, seal, shape, shuffle, singularity, smack, specialty, stamp, taint, tang, taste, token, torsion, tortuosity, toy, trademark, trait, trick, trick of behavior, turn, twist, unsymmetry, vagary, warp, whim, whim-wham, whimsy, wrench, wrest, wring