different between qualm vs foist

English

Alternative forms

• calm (dialectal)

Etymology

Perhaps from Middle English qualm, cwalm (“death, sickness, plague”), which is from Old English cwealm (West Saxon: "death, disaster, plague"), ?tcualm (Anglian: "utter destruction"), from Proto-West Germanic *kwalm (“killing, death, destruction”), from Proto-Indo-European *g?elH- (“to stick, pierce; pain, injury, death”), whence also quell. Although the sense development is possible, this has the problem that there are no attestations in intermediate senses before the appearance of "pang of apprehension, etc." in the 16th century. The alternative etymology is from Dutch kwalm or German Qualm "steam, vapor, mist," earlier "daze, stupefaction", which is from the root of German quellen (“to stream, well up”). The sense "feeling of faintness" is from 1530; "uneasiness, doubt" from 1553; "scruple of conscience" from 1649.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /kw?m/, /kw?m/, /kw?lm/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /kw??m/, /kw??m/

Noun

qualm (plural qualms)

1. A feeling of apprehension, doubt, fear etc. [from 16th c.]
2. A sudden sickly feeling; queasiness. [from 16th c.]
3. A prick of the conscience; a moral scruple, a pang of guilt. (Now often in negative constructions.) [from 17th c.]

4. (archaic, Britain dialectal) Mortality; plague; pestilence.
5. (archaic, Britain dialectal) A calamity or disaster.

Synonyms

• compunction
• misgiving
• scruple
• unease/uneasiness
• See Thesaurus:apprehension

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Verb

qualm (third-person singular simple present qualms, present participle qualming, simple past and past participle qualmed)

1. (intransitive) To have a sickly feeling.

References

• Douglas Harper (2001–2021) , “qualm”, in Online Etymology Dictionary

Middle English

Alternative forms

• cwalm, cualm, qwalm, qualme

Etymology

From Old English cwealm, from Proto-West Germanic *kwalm.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kwalm/

Noun

qualm

1. Plague, disease or sickness; that which afflicts.
2. The effects, fruits, or ravages of plague.
3. (rare) Killing (as a concept or as an instance)

Descendants

• English: qualm (possibly)
• Scots: qualm (possibly)

References

• “qualm, n.(1).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-11-12.

English

Etymology 1

Probably from archaic Dutch vuisten (“to take into one’s hand”), from Middle Dutch vuysten, from vuyst (“fist”); akin to Old English fyst (“fist”).

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /f??st/

Verb

foist (third-person singular simple present foists, present participle foisting, simple past and past participle foisted)

1. (transitive) To introduce or insert surreptitiously or without warrant.
   • 2006, Theodore Dalrymple, The Gift of Language

     attempts to foist alleged grammatical “correctness” on native speakers of an “incorrect” dialect are nothing but the unacknowledged and oppressive exercise of social control
2. (transitive) To force another to accept especially by stealth or deceit.
3. (transitive) To pass off as genuine or worthy.
   • 1969, Jonathan Spivak, "Competitive Problems in the Drug Industry" in The Wall Street Journal

     foist costly and valueless products on the public

Synonyms

• fob off
• pass off
• pawn off
• palm off

Translations

Noun

foist (plural foists)

1. (historical slang) A thief or pickpocket.
   • 1977, Gãmini Salgãdo, The Elizabethan Underworld, Folio Society 2006, p. 54:

     The foist had lately arrived form the country and was known to be doing a thriving trade in and around Westminster Hall where many country folk and others came to see lawyers.

Synonyms

• See Thesaurus:pickpocket

Etymology 2

From Old French fuste (“stick, boat”), from Latin fustis (“cudgel”).

Noun

foist (plural foists)

1. (obsolete) A light and fast-sailing ship.

   • These are mad boys, I tell you; these are things That will not strike their top-sails to a foist,
     And let a man of war, an argosy, Hull and cry cockles.

Etymology 3

From Old French fust (whence also French fût), from Latin fustis.

Noun

foist (plural foists)

1. (obsolete) A cask for wine.
2. Fustiness; mustiness.

Derived terms

• foisty

References

• “foist”, in OED Online ?, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, launched 2000

Anagrams

• Fotis, tifos