quaff, quaught, quaffe

t. & i. [For quach, from quach, quaich, quech, queff =a cup (Scotch), from Ir. & (tael. cuach =a cup, a bowl, a milking pail. ('f. Wel.cwch=a round cavity, a crown of a hat, a hive.] A. Transitive: To drink; to swallow in large draughts; to drink abundantly or copiously. "Then, quick! the cup to quaff that chases sorrow." Browning: Para cels us, iv. B. In trans.: To drink copiously or luxuriously. (Dryden: Homer's Iliad, i.) ( Stanyhurst : Virgil's Æneid , iv. 34.) *quaff-tide, *quaf-tide, s. Time for drinking. *quaff, s. [QUAFF, v.] A draught. "Now, Alvina begins her quaff ." Greene: Looking-Gla for London , p. 141. quaff-er, s . [Eng. quaff ; -er.] One who quaffs or drinks largely. *quaf-fer, v. i. [Prob. for quaver (q. v.).] To shake, to grope or feel about. "Long broad bills to quaffer and hunt in waters and mud."-Derham: Physico- Theology , bk. iv., ch. xi. (Note.) A quagmire, a bog. quăg, s. [An abbreviation of quagmire (q. v.).] "Striding along between the whin bushes or through the quags ."- Athenœum , Sept. 3, 1881.