qua

[For etym. and def. see compound.] qua-bird, s. Ornith.: The Night-heron of this country. Nycti corax nævius . "It is distributed generally over the United States, residing permanently in the southern portion; in the Eastern states it is called the qua - bird , from the noise it makes." -Ripley & Dana: Amer. Cyclop ., xii. 443. quab (1), s . [Cf. Dut. kwab , kwabbe ; Dan. quabbe =an eel-pout; Ger. quappe , quabbe a tadpole, an eel-pout.] A kind of fish; prob. an eel-pout or the miller's thumb. quab (2), s. [Etym. doubtful; prob. for squab (q.v.).] An unfledged bird; hence, anything im mature or crude. "You'll take it well enough; a scholar's fancy, A quab ; 'tis nothing else, a very quab ." Ford: Lover's Melancholy , iii. 3. quăck, *queke, *quakke, v . i . & t . [From the sound; cf. Dut. kwaken to croak, to quack; Ger. quaken to quack; Icel. kvaka to twitter; Dan. quække to croak, to quack; Lat. coaxo =to croak; Gr. koax =a croaking.J A. Intransitive : "The drink, or something in the cup, quackled him, stuck so in his throat that he could not get it up nor down."-Ward: Sermons, p. 153. B. In trans. To quack. quăck-ling, subst. [Eng. quack, s.; dim in.suff. ling.] A young duck; a duckling.