In the 16th century, Turkish women could divorce their husbands if the man failed to keep his family’s pot filled with coffee.
QUALM
scruple, qualm, misgiving
(noun) uneasiness about the fitness of an action
queasiness, squeamishness, qualm
(noun) a mild state of nausea
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Etymology
Noun
qualm (plural qualms)
A feeling of apprehension, doubt, fear etc. [from 16th c.]
A sudden sickly feeling; queasiness. [from 16th c.]
A prick of the conscience; a moral scruple, a pang of guilt. (Now often in negative constructions.) [from 17th c.]
(archaic, UK dialectal) Mortality; plague; pestilence.
(archaic, UK dialectal) A calamity or disaster.
Synonyms
• compunction
• misgiving
• scruple
• unease/uneasiness
• See apprehension
Verb
qualm (third-person singular simple present qualms, present participle qualming, simple past and past participle qualmed)
(intransitive) To have a sickly feeling.
Source: Wiktionary
Qualm, n. Etym: [AS. cwealm death, slaughter, pestilence, akin to OS. & OHG. qualm. See Quail to cower.]
1. Sickness; disease; pestilence; death. [Obs.] thousand slain and not of qualm ystorve [dead]. Chaucer.
2. A sudden attack of illness, faintness, or pain; an agony. " Qualms of heartsick agony." Milton.
3. Especially, a sudden sensation of nausea. For who, without a qualm, hath ever looked On holy garbage, though by Homer cooked Roscommon.
4. A prick or scruple of conscience; uneasiness of conscience; compunction. Dryden.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
Recent Word Finds
Word of the Day
15 April 2025
DOOMED
(adjective) marked by or promising bad fortune; “their business venture was doomed from the start”; “an ill-fated business venture”; “an ill-starred romance”; “the unlucky prisoner was again put in irons”- W.H.Prescott
Coffee Trivia
