quar|rel

quar|rel¹ «KWAWR uhl, KWOR-», noun, verb, -reled, -rel|ing or (especially British) -relled, -rel|ling.

–n.

1. an angry dispute or disagreement; fight with words; breaking off of friendly relations: »

They have had a quarrel and don't speak to each other. Love quarrels are easily made up, but of money quarrels there is no end (Maria Edgeworth).

2. a cause for a dispute or disagreement; reason for breaking off friendly relations: »

A bully likes to pick quarrels. An honest man has no quarrel with the laws.

3. one's cause or side in a dispute or contest: »

The knight took up the poor man's quarrel and fought his oppressor.

–v.i.

1. to fight with words; dispute or disagree angrily; break off friendly relations; stop being friends: »

The two friends quarreled and now they don't speak to each other. The sisters quarrelled among themselves as all sisters will (Winston Churchill).

SYNONYM(S): bicker, wrangle, squabble.

2. to find fault; complain: »

It is useless to quarrel with fate because one does not have control over it.

╂[< Old French quarrel, or querele < Latin querella, querēla complaint < querī complain]

Synonym Study noun. 1 Quarrel, feud mean an angry disagreement or unfriendly relation between two people or groups. Quarrel applies to an angry dispute, soon over or ending in a fight or in severed relations: »

The children had a quarrel over the division of the candy.

Feud applies to a longlasting quarrel, usually marked by violence and revenge when between two groups, by bitterness and repeatedly unfriendly verbal attacks when between individuals: »

The senator and the columnist carried on a feud.

quar|rel² «KWAWR uhl, KWOR-», noun.

1. a bolt or arrow with a square head, used with a crossbow.

2. a small, square or diamond-shaped pane of glass, used in latticed windows.

3. a stonemason's chisel.

4. = quarry³. (Cf. ↑quarry)

╂[< Old French quarrel < Medieval Latin quadrellus (diminutive) < Latin quadrus square]