quire
quire¹
Definition
quire (kwīr)
noun, transitive verb, intransitive verb quired, quir′·ing
Archaic choir
quire²
Definition
quire (kwīr)
noun
a set of 24 or 25 sheets of paper of the same size and stock, the twentieth part of a ream
Etymology: ME quair < OFr quaer, book of loose pages < VL quaternum, paper packed in lots of four pages < L quaterni, four each: see quaternary
quire
Usage Examples
Preposition: of
- paper: Clemens covered a good many quires of paper with caustic replies.
- cathedral: I found an exhausted person sitting in the quire of the Cathedral looking up at the Great East Window.
Converse of object
- have: As always give us a ring if you have a quire and ask for Big " H "
- make: Each sheet was distinctively marked to make sure the quires could not get muddled up.
- link: SEWING ON SUPPORTS The process of linking the QUIRES of a manuscript into book form by sewing them on to CORDS.
- form: It was common Anglo-Saxon practice to form a quire from four sheets of parchment - folded to make eight leaves.
Adjective modifier
- single: This codex of the letters of Paul was made out of one single quire.
- many: Clemens covered a good many quires of paper with caustic replies.
Modifies a noun
- aisle: The pavement came from the site of a 3rd-century Roman villa along with a mural displayed on the wall of the south quire aisle.
Noun used with modifier
Browse dictionary entries near quire
- quipu
- quip
- quintuplicate
- quintuplet
- quintuple
- Quintin
- quintillion
- Quintilian
- quintile
- quintet
