quirk

Meanings

1. An idiosyncrasy; a slight glitch, a mannerism; something unusual about the manner or style of something or someone.
2. An acute angle dividing a molding; a groove that runs lengthwise between the upper part of a molding and a soffit.
3. A quibble, evasion, or subterfuge.

1. To (cause to) move with a wry jerk.
2. To furnish with a quirk or channel.
3. To alter in a unique and unusual way.
4. To use verbal tricks or quibbles.

1. Alternative form of querk.

1. A surname.

Etymology

First attested in the 1540s. Of uncertain origin. Possibly from Middle English *querk, from Old Norse kverk (“a bend or angle, especially below a cross-beam or below the chin, the bight of an axe", also "throat, gullet”), from Proto-Germanic *kwerkō (“throat, gullet”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʷerh₃- (“to devour; maw”). Cognate with Scots querk (“throat", also "any hollow in the body, such as an armpit, groin, instep, etc.”), Icelandic kverk (“interior angle”). Also partially from dialectal quirk, querk (“a whim, fancy, fuss, huff, complaint", also "to peevishly grumble, grunt, sigh, croak, die”), from Middle English querken, *quirken (“to choke”), from Old Norse kvirkja (“to choke, strangle”), from the same origin above. Related to dialectal querken, quirken (“to choke”). Likely not related to queer.