quisby en · ADJ
Etymology
Uncertain; perhaps quiz + -by, or from queer or Queer Street (“difficult circumstances”).
Meanings
- (UK, archaic, slang) Mean; destitute; strange.
-
(UK, archaic, slang) In difficult circumstances; in trouble.
[S]he told me as things was a-goin' werry quisby with 'em Wilkses. I says, "I'm sorry for 'er, but he's a party I don't 'old with, as in my opinion deserves to want, only but for others as would want with 'im." She says, "He's been and got 'isself in a 'ole with them books as he've been lewanted with, and will get two years over it, they say," and so he did, […]
1874, Arthur Sketchley, Mrs. Brown and Disraeli, page 151:
-
(UK, archaic, slang) Drunk; tipsy.
"[…] Did you know that my husband came home intoxicated?" Mrs. Brown laughed. "Oh, not so bad as that, surely! Only a little 'screwed.' George was 'quisby,' too. But then its Christmas, you know."
1889, Belgravia, volume 70, page 15:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| more quisby | Degree=Cmp | lexicographic | |
| most quisby | Degree=Sup | lexicographic |