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The Qabbala (Cabala, Caballa, Kabbala) is an ancient esoteric tradition of the Jews. It was supposedly given to Moses on mount Sinai in a revelation.
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The quadruple alliance was a name given to several alliances in history. The first was the alliance formed in 1718 by Great Britain, France, the Netherlands, and Austria to maintain the European settlement effected by the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, which ended the War of the Spanish Succession. It superseded and incorporated the Triple Alliance of 1717 that guaranteed the succession of the reigning families of Great Britain and France. In 1815 Great Britain, Russia, Austria, and Prussia formed a quadruple alliance to regulate European politics after the fall of Napoleon. Great Britain, France, Portugal, and Spain formed a quadruple alliance in 1834 to support Queen Maria II of Portugal and Queen Isabella II of Spain against the pretenders to their thrones.
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A Quaestor was an ancient Roman magistrate. The earliest quaestors had judicial powers, but as the finances of Rome increased in complexity, two quaestors were appointed by the consuls to control the public treasury. After 447 BC the quaestors were elected annually by the legislative body known as the comitia tributa. In 421 BC the office was opened to the plebs and the number of quaestors was raised to four. As the Roman Republic gained control of Italy and more provinces were acquired, additional quaestors were elected as financial assistants to the military commanders and provincial governors. Under Julius Caesar in the 1st century BC, there were 40 quaestors. The Emperor Augustus later reduced the number to 20, which was the usual number for the duration of the Roman Empire.
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The quart is a unit of capacity measurement equivalent to 2 pints or 1.136 litres.
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The quarter is a unit of measurement of the avoirdupois scale equivalent to 28 pounds or 12.7 kilograms. The quarter is a unit of capacity measurement equivalent to 8 bushels or 2.909 hectolitres.
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Quartering is a form of torturous execution in which the victim is torn apart by four horses, one each attached to each limb and then driven in opposite directions. A typical example is recounted by Casanova who witnessed the execution of Damien in 1757. He recounts how every available spot within sight of the scaffold was crowded with Parisian sightseers who gloated over the doomed man's sufferings. After having his hand burned off and being subjected to the torture of boiling oil and melted lead, for hours, to the accompaniment of his piercing screams, the whip-goaded horses dragged his limbs and body apart.
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In 1765 the British Parliament passed an act compelling the colonies to provide the garrisons in America with fire, candles, vinegar, salt, bedding, cooking utensils and liquors. It was the first act requiring the colonies to tax themselves for imperial objects. In 1774 an act was passed legalizing the quartering of troops in the town of Boston. Both acts were most distasteful to the colonists.
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Quasimodo Sunday or Low Sunday is the first Sunday following Easter. It is called Quasimodo Sunday because the introit of the day begins with the words 'Quasi modo geniti infantes'. It's alternative name of low Sunday is so called because it is an ordinary day after the grand celebrations of Easter.
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The Quebec Act was an act of the British parliament in 1774, designed to prevent that newly acquired province from joining for freedom with the other colonies. The property of the Catholic church was guaranteed to it, and the boundaries of Quebec were extended to the Mississippi River on the west and to the Ohio on the south, beside the present Canada. This was the territory now included in the five States northwest of the Ohio.
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In terms of furniture, Queen Anne refers to a style of furniture popularised around the early 18th century of which there are a few distinctive features: the use of walnut; the use of the cabriole leg, which is a leg shaped in the form of a double curve with the upper part being convex and the lower part concave, and the leg ending in either a claw-and-ball or a paw foot and the use of marquetry, inlay, veneering, and lacquer work and carvings of scallop shells, scrolls, Oriental figures, animals, and plants to decorate furniture of the time. Chairs of the Queen Anne period often had a curved back (a splat back) so as to fit the small of the back.
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Queen's College, Cambridge, is a college of Cambridge university founded in 1448 by Margaret of Anjou, queen of Henry VI and again in 1465 by Elizabeth Woodville, queen of Edward IV.
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Queen's College, Oxford was founded in 1340 by Robert de Eglesfield, and named in compliment of Queen Philippa whose confessor he was.
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The Queen's Tobacco-pipe (also called the Queen's Pipe) was a popular name for the oven, later replaced in 1892 by a furnace, situated in the north-east corner of the tobacco warehouses of the London Docks. It was so called because it was used for burning all sorts of contraband but especially tobacco and cigars.
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Queen's ware is a glazed earthenware of a creamy colour.
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Quick actually means alive, hence we have terms in English such as quicksand, so called because the sand shifts as though it were alive (quick), and mercury was once called quicksilver, in allusion to it being living silver.
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Quills are the large wing-feathers of birds. They were long used for making pens, the quills of swans being the best but the quills of geese most commonly used while Crow-quills were used to make fine writing instruments. Quills are still used to make sign writers' brushes, as the flexible quill has less tendency to cut the delicate sable hairs than a metal ferrule. Quills used for signwriting have a wooden handle inserted into the handle end of the quill to add rigidity to the brush.
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Quintal was a weight of 100 lbs or similar used in several countries. The old French quintal was 100 livres and later 100 kilograms.
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A quipo was a cord about 60 cm in length, tightly spun from variously coloured threads, and to which a number of smaller threads were attached in the form of a fringe. They were used among the ancient Peruvians and Mexicans for recording events. The fringe-like threads were of different colours signifying different objects or events.
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A quire is a measurement of writing paper equal to 24 sheets. 20 quires make 1 ream.
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