quiddler (kwidler)

[ quidificalt, a. [ Diogenes, mocking soch quid if i call trifles, that were al in the cherubins, said, Sir Plato, your table and your cuppe I see very well, but as for your table tee and your cupitee, I see none soc he. Udall, tr. of Apophthegms of Erasmus, p. 139. ), n. [L. quid nunc, quidlibet, n. Same as quodlibet . quidnunc (kwid'nungk), n. what now: quid , what (see quid2 ); nunc , now (see now ).] One who is curious to know every- thing that pa es, and is continually asking "What now?" or "What news?" hence, one who knows or pretends to know all that is go- ing on in politics, society, etc.; a newsmonger. Are not you called a theatrical quidnunc , and a mock Mæcenas to second-hand authors? Sheridan , The Critic, i. 1. What a treasure-trove to these venerable quidnuncs , could they have gue ed the secret which Hepzibah and Clifford were carrying along with them! Hawthorne , Seven Gables, xvii. quid pro quo (kwid pro kwō). [L., something for something: quid , interrog. what, indef. some- thing; pro , for; quo , abl. sing. of quid , some- thing.] Something given for something else; a tit for tat; in law, an equivalent; a thing given or offered in exchange for or in consideration of another; the mutual consideration and performance of either party as toward the other in a contract.