quirk

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Related to quirk: quirky

quirk

(kwûrk)

1. A peculiarity of behavior; an idiosyncrasy: "Every man had his own quirks and twists" (Harriet Beecher Stowe).

2. An unpredictable or unaccountable act or event; a vagary: a quirk of fate.

3. A sudden sharp turn or twist: a quirk of the head.

4. Architecture A lengthwise groove on a molding between the convex upper part and the soffit.

5. Archaic An equivocation; a quibble.

[Origin unknown.]

quirk′i·ly adv.

quirk′i·ness n.

quirk′y adj.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

quirk

(kwɜːk)

1. an individual peculiarity of character; mannerism or foible

2. an unexpected twist or turn: a quirk of fate.

3. (Architecture) a continuous groove in an architectural moulding

4. a flourish, as in handwriting

[C16: of unknown origin]

ˈquirky adj

ˈquirkily adv

ˈquirkiness n

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

quirk

(kwûrk),
n.

1. a peculiarity of action, behavior, or personality; mannerism.

2. caprice; vagary; accident: a quirk of fate.

3. a showy stroke, as in writing.

4. an acute angle or channel, as one dividing two parts of a molding.

adj.

5. formed with a quirk or channel, as a molding.

[1540–50; orig. uncertain]

quirk′i•ly, adv.

quirk′i•ness, n.

quirk′y, adj. quirk•i•er, quirk•i•est.

syn: See eccentricity.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Switch to new thesaurus

Noun	1.	quirk - a strange attitude or habit queerness, quirkiness, oddity, crotchet strangeness, unfamiliarity - unusualness as a consequence of not being well known
	2.	quirk - a narrow groove beside a beading groove, channel - a long narrow furrow cut either by a natural process (such as erosion) or by a tool (as e.g. a groove in a phonograph record)
Verb	1.	quirk - twist or curve abruptly; "She quirked her head in a peculiar way" twist - turn in the opposite direction; "twist one's head"

quirk

noun

1. fluke, chance, twist, turn, freak, anomaly a tantalising quirk of fate

2. peculiarity, eccentricity, mannerism, foible, idiosyncrasy, habit, fancy, characteristic, trait, whim, oddity, caprice, fetish, aberration, kink, vagary, singularity, idée fixe (French) the quirks and foibles of people in everyday situations

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

quirk

noun

Peculiar behavior:

eccentricity, idiosyncrasy, peculiarity, quirkiness, singularity.

Translations

مُراوَغَه، تَلاعُب بالألْفاظ

výstřednost

ejendommelighed

Eigenart Eigenheit Macke

excentricité

fintorhirtelen fordulat

tiktúra, skringilegheit

stranezza

dīvainība

eksentrisk vane

выверт

manier

acayipliktuhaflık

古怪的举动怪癖

quirk

[kwɜːk] N

1. (= oddity) → rareza f
it's just one of his little quirks → es una de sus rarezas
by some quirk of fate/nature → por algún capricho del destino/de la naturaleza
a statistical quirk → una anomalía estadística

2. (Art, Mus) (= flourish) → floritura f

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

quirk

[ˈkwɜː^rk] n

(= strange occurrence) → bizarrerie f
a quirk of fate → un caprice du destin
by some quirk of fate → par un caprice du hasard

[person, behaviour] → manie f

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

quirk

n → Schrulle f, → Marotte f; (of nature, fate) → Laune f; by a strange quirk of fate → durch eine Laune des Schicksals

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

quirk

[kwɜːk] n (oddity) → stranezza, bizzarria
by some quirk of fate → per un capriccio della sorte

quirk

(kwəːk) noun

a strange or unusual feature of a person's behaviour etc.

References in classic literature ?

Unfortunately for my stomach and mucous membranes, Nelson had a strange quirk of nature that made him find happiness in treating me to beer.

Either I must throw overboard all my old values of money and look upon it as something to be flung about wastefully, or I must throw overboard my comradeship with these men whose peculiar quirks made them like strong drink.

View in context

Don't stop to quirk your little finger and simper over your plate, Amy," cried Jo, choking on her tea and dropping her bread, butter side down, on the carpet in her haste to get at the treat.

View in context

Somewhere in his make-up there was a strange twist or quirk. Perhaps it was a recoil from his environment and training, or from the tempered seed of his ancestors, who had been book-men generation preceding generation; but at any rate, he found enjoyment in being down in the working-class world.

View in context

By some quirk of atavism, a certain portion of that early self's language had come down to him as a racial memory.

View in context

At times he shocked them with the vividness of the narrative and his terms of speech, but beauty always followed fast upon the heels of violence, and tragedy was relieved by humor, by interpretations of the strange twists and quirks of sailors' minds.

View in context

Prom them she learned all the ten thousand tricks and quirks of artful gardening, and she was not long in realizing how helpless she would have been had she depended on local labor.

View in context

Easily, with a few convulsive quirks, they give up their watery ghosts, like a mortal translated before his time to the thin air of heaven.

View in context

A recent white paper by Ronald Quirk, an attorney with Venable LLP and a specialist in telecommunications law, explores those issues in depth.

Privacy concerns a headache

Guest speaker Barry Quirk CBE, chief exec of Lewisham Borough Council pictured with Nick Paul, chairman, Advantage West Midlands and Chris Clifford, CBI regional Director' Martin Howe, Bevan Brittan' Richard Riley, Small Heath School' Paul Chiswick, Koru Consulting' Sarah Shaw, Russam GMS' Pat Kenrick, ITS' Judy Scully, Aston University' Jane Bromley, Strategenic Ltd' Helen Cofler, Hay Group

POST PEOPLE: CBI lunch

Quirk, an architect whose partner of three years, Paul Ramirez, owns a home nearby, lives in historic Bungalow Heaven, a collection of approximately 1,100 early-20th-century bungalows in the city of Pasadena, about 10 miles north of downtown Los Angeles.

Welcome to the gayborhood: once-sleepy blue-collar suburbs are attracting large numbers of gay people with cheaper homes and the promise of safe streets and better schools. And the gays are bringing a strong sense of community

Quirk, professor and chair of obstetrics, gynecology, and reproductive medicine at Stony Brook (N.Y.) University.

For late-pregnancy choking victim, use Heimlich maneuver on the floor

CITE

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