qualm

  • 1Qualm — Qualm, n. [AS. cwealm death, slaughter, pestilence, akin to OS. & OHG. qualm. See {Quail} to cower.] 1. Sickness; disease; pestilence; death. [Obs.] [1913 Webster] thousand slain and not of qualm ystorve [dead]. Chaucer. [1913 Webster] 2. A… …

    The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • 2qualm — qualm; qualm·ish; qualm·ish·ly; qualm·ish·ness; …

    English syllables

  • 3qualm — qualm, scruple, compunction, demur can all denote a feeling of doubt or hesitation as to the rightness or wisdom of something one is doing or is about to do. Qualm implies an uneasy, often a sickening, sensation that one is not following the… …

    New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • 4Qualm — Sm std. (16. Jh., twalm 8. Jh.) Stammwort. Übernommen aus dem Niederdeutschen. Die nächstliegende Erklärung ist ein Anschluß an quellen, also das Hervorquellende ; es ist aber zu beachten, daß Wörter dieser Bedeutung in den indogermanischen… …

    Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen sprache

  • 5qualm — [kwäm] n. [ME qualme < OE cwealm, death, disaster (akin to Ger qual, pain, Swed kvalm, nausea) < base of cwellan, to kill (see QUELL): all extant senses show melioration of the orig. meaning] 1. a sudden, brief feeling of sickness,… …

    English World dictionary

  • 6Qualm — 1) dicker Dampf od. Rauch; 2) das bes. in nassen Jahren hervorquellende od. an einem Ort sich sammelnde Wasser; 3) so v.w. Ekel, Betäubung; 4) was Unlust, Verwirrung verursacht …

    Pierer's Universal-Lexikon

  • 7qualm — I noun anxiety, apprehension, apprehensiveness, compunction, concern, diffidence, disquiet, distrust, doubt, doubtfulness, dubiety, dubiousness, equivocalness, feeling of uncertainty, foreboding, hesitance, hesitancy, hesitation, incertitude,… …

    Law dictionary

  • 8qualm — [kwa:m US kwa:m, kwa:lm] n [C usually plural] a feeling of slight worry or doubt because you are not sure that what you are doing is right ▪ Despite my qualms, I took the job. ▪ The manager has no qualms about dropping players who do not perform… …

    Dictionary of contemporary English

  • 9qualm — (n.) O.E. cwealm (W.Saxon) death, disaster, plague, utcualm (Anglian) utter destruction, related to cwellan to kill, cwelan to die (see QUELL (Cf. quell)). Sense softened to feeling of faintness 1520s; meaning uneasiness, doubt is from 1550s;… …

    Etymology dictionary

  • 10Qualm — (der) …

    Kölsch Dialekt Lexikon