Quote of the Day
'If at first you don’t succeed . . . so much for skydiving.'
HENNY YOUNGMAN
Word of the Day
January 16
qualm
pron \KWAHM\
Definition
noun
a sudden attack of
illness, faintness, or nausea
a sudden feeling of doubt, fear, or uneasiness especially in
not following one's conscience or better judgment
some people have no qualms
about correcting other people's grammar.
"II have no
qualms about pulling into a gas station or up to a store and asking for
directions." — Ed Goldman, The
Sacramento (California) Business Journal, 24 Sept. 2015
Etymologists aren't sure where qualm
originated, but they do know it entered English around 1530. Originally, it
referred to a sudden sick feeling. Robert Louis Stevenson made use of this
older sense in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde: "A qualm came over me, a horrid
nausea and the most deadly shuddering." Soon after qualm entered the
language, it came to designate not only sudden attacks of illness, but also
sudden attacks of emotion or principle. In The Sketch Book, for example,
Washington Irving wrote, "Immediately after one of these fits of
extravagance, he will be taken with violent qualms of economy…."
Eventually, qualm took on the specific (and now most common) meaning of doubt
or uneasiness, particularly in not following one's conscience or better judgment.
Merriam-Webster
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