"Quidnunc" Quotes from Famous Books
... character of a critic? I have no patience with you!—haven't you made yourself the jest of all your acquaintance by your interference in matters where you have no business? Are you not called a theatrical Quidnunc, and a mock Maecenas to second-hand authors? Dang. True; my power with the managers is pretty notorious. But is it no credit to have applications from all quarters for my interest—from lords to recommend fiddlers, from ladies to get boxes, from authors to get answers, ... — Scarborough and the Critic • Sheridan
... of knowledge.] Curiosity — N. interest, thirst for knowledge, thirst for truth; curiosity, curiousness; inquiring mind; inquisitiveness. omnivorous intellect, devouring mind. [person who desires knowledge] inquirer; sightseer; quidnunc [Lat.], newsmonger, Paul Pry, eavesdropper; gossip &c (news) 532; rubberneck; intellectual; seeker [inquirer after religious knowledge], seeker after truth. V. be curious &c adj.; take an interest ... — Roget's Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases: Body • Roget
... cheering. Hail the Imperial Institute! And hail the patient Prince promoter! The man who's neither cynic brute, Nor phrase-led sycophantic doter, May echo that. Our patriot tap Is old, well-kept and genuine stingo; Not the chill quidnunc's cold cat-lap, Nor crude fire-water of the Jingo, But sound as good old English ale, Full-bodied, fragrant, mild, and mellow. To try that tap Punch will not fail, Nor any other right good fellow. A bumper of that draught to-day Is "Welcome as ... — Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 104, May 13, 1893 • Various
... the days to which these anecdotes have carried me back. The dark guesses of some zealous Quidnunc met with so congenial a soil in the grave alarm of a titled Dogberry of our neighbourhood, that a spy was actually sent down from the government pour surveillance of myself and friend. There must have been not only abundance, but variety of these "honourable men" ... — Biographia Literaria • Samuel Taylor Coleridge
... and the quidnunc—to whom only brief allusion has so far been made—had come to be regarded as distinct public nuisances. I have hitherto refrained from commenting often on the actions and the utterances of these monomaniacs in our midst. Any attempt to summarise their mendacities would be foredoomed to failure; ... — The Siege of Kimberley • T. Phelan |