QUIRE

quire

(noun) a quantity of paper; 24 or 25 sheets

Source: WordNet® 3.1

Etymology 1

Noun

quire (plural quires)

One-twentieth of a ream of paper; a collection of twenty-four or twenty-five sheets of paper of the same size and quality, unfolded or having a single fold.

(bookbinding) A set of leaves which are stitched together, originally a set of four pieces of paper (eight leaves, sixteen pages). This is most often a single signature (i.e. group of four), but may be several nested signatures.

A book, poem, or pamphlet.

Coordinate terms

• (quantity of paper): bale, bundle, ream

Verb

quire (third-person singular simple present quires, present participle quiring, simple past and past participle quired)

(bookbinding) To prepare quires by stitching together leaves of paper.

Etymology 2

Noun

quire (plural quires)

(archaic) A choir.

One quarter of a cruciform church, or the architectural area of a church used by the choir, often near the apse.

Verb

quire (third-person singular simple present quires, present participle quiring, simple past and past participle quired)

(intransitive) To sing in concert.

Source: Wiktionary

Quire, n.

Definition: See Choir. [Obs.] Spenser. A quire of such enticing birds. Shak.

Quire, v. i.

Definition: To sing in concert. [R.] Shak.

Quire, n. Etym: [OE. quaer, quair, OF. quayer, cayer, caïer, F. cahier, a book of loose sheets, a quarter of a quire, LL. quaternus, quaternum, sheets of paper packed together, properly, four together, fr. L. quaterni four each, by fours, quattuor, four. See Four and cf. Cahier.]

Definition: A collection of twenty-four sheets of paper of the same size and quality, unfolded or having a single fold; one twentieth of a ream.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition