different between relieve vs quell

English

Etymology

From Old French relever, specifically from the conjugated forms such as (jeo) relieve (“I lift up”), and its source, Latin relevo (“to lift up, lighten, relieve, alleviate”), combined form of re- (“back”) + levo (“to lift”). Compare levant, levity, etc.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /???li?v/
• Rhymes: -i?v

Verb

relieve (third-person singular simple present relieves, present participle relieving, simple past and past participle relieved)

1. (transitive) To ease (a person, person's thoughts etc.) from mental distress; to stop (someone) feeling anxious or worried, to alleviate the distress of. [from 14th c.]
2. (transitive) To ease (someone, a part of the body etc.) or give relief from physical pain or discomfort. [from 14th c.]
3. (transitive) To alleviate (pain, distress, mental discomfort etc.). [from 14th c.]
4. (transitive) To provide comfort or assistance to (someone in need, especially in poverty). [from 14th c.]
5. (obsolete) To lift up; to raise again. [15th-17th c.]
6. (now rare) To raise (someone) out of danger or from (a specified difficulty etc.). [from 15th c.]
7. (law) To free (someone) from debt or legal obligations; to give legal relief to. [from 15th c.]

   This shall not relieve either Party of any obligations.

8. To bring military help to (a besieged town); to lift the siege on. [from 16th c.]
9. To release (someone) from or of a difficulty, unwanted task, responsibility etc. [from 16th c.]
10. (military, job) To free (someone) from their post, task etc. by taking their place. [from 16th c.]
11. (now rare) To make (something) stand out; to make prominent, bring into relief. [from 18th c.]
    • 1819, Lord Byron, Don Juan, III.76:

      The henna should be deeply dyed to make / The skin relieved appear more fairly fair […]

    • 1927, Countee Cullen, From the Dark Tower:

      The night whose sable breast relieves the stark / White stars is no less lovely being dark

12. (reflexive) To go to the toilet; to defecate or urinate. [from 20th c.]

Synonyms

• (to alleviate pain, ease): liss

Derived terms

• relieve oneself

Related terms

Translations

Further reading

• relieve in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• relieve in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /re?ljebe/, [re?lje.??e]

Noun

relieve m (plural relieves)

1. relief (protrusion)

Derived terms

Further reading

• “relieve” in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014.

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kw?l/

Etymology 1

From Middle English quellen, from Old English cwellan (“to kill”), from Proto-Germanic *kwaljan? (“to make die; kill”). Cognate with German quälen (“to torment; agonise; smite”), Swedish kvälja (“to torment”), Icelandic kvelja (“to torture; torment”). Compare also Old Armenian ??? (ke?, “sore, ulcer”), Old Church Slavonic ???? (žal?, “pain”). See also kill.

Verb

quell (third-person singular simple present quells, present participle quelling, simple past and past participle quelled)

1. (transitive) To subdue, to put down; to silence or force (someone) to submit. [from 10th c.]
   • 1849, Thomas Macaulay, History of England, Chapter 1:

     The nation obeyed the call, rallied round the sovereign, and enabled him to quell the disaffected minority.

   • 1858, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, The Courtship of Miles Standish

     Northward marching to quell the sudden revolt.

2. (transitive) To suppress, to put an end to (something); to extinguish. [from 14th c.]

   to quell grief

   to quell the tumult of the soul
3. (obsolete, transitive) To kill. [9th-19th c.]
   • (Can we find and add a quotation of Edmund Spenser to this entry?)
4. (obsolete, intransitive) To be subdued or abated; to diminish. [16th-17th c.]

   • Winter's wrath begins to quell.

5. To die.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, Chapter 7:

     Yet he did quake and quaver, like to quell.

Noun

quell (plural quells)

1. A subduing.
   • 1903, Knowledge: A Monthly Record of Science

     The quell of the rebellion raised Justinian to the acme of power.

   • 1994, United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on the Judiciary, U.S. international drug control policy: recent experience, future options : seminar proceedings, Government Printing Office ?ISBN

     The consequences have not been significant in terms of the quell of any of the three drugs into the United States.

   • 2013, Suzanne Collins, Catching Fire, Scholastic UK

     But to make things even worse, this is the year of the Seventy-fifth Hunger Games, and that means it's also a Quarter Quell. They occur every twenty-five years, marking the anniversary of the districts' defeat with over-the-top celebrations and, for extra fun, some miserable twist for the tributes.

   • 2014, Markham J. Geller, Melammu: The Ancient World in an Age of Globalization, epubli ?ISBN, page 136

     An example can be found in the data about the campaigns of Aššur-b?n-apli against Arab tribes after the quell of the revolt of Šamaš-šumuk?n.

Related terms

Translations

References

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

Etymology 2

From Middle English *quelle (suggested by the verb quellen (“to well up; gush forth”)), from Old English cwylla, *cwielle (“spring; source”), from Proto-Germanic *kwell? (“well; spring”). Compare German Quelle.

Noun

quell (plural quells)

1. A source, especially a spring.
   • 1969, Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov, Ada, Or, Ardor, a Family Chronicle, Vintage ?ISBN

     Other excruciations replaced her namesake's loquacious quells so completely that when, during a lucid interval, she happened to open with her weak little hand a lavabo cock for a drink of water, the tepid lymph replied in its own lingo […]

   • 2001, Hans-Dieter Klingemann, Andrea Römmele, Public Information Campaigns and Opinion Research: A Handbook for the Student and Practitioner, SAGE ?ISBN, page 82

     The strategists had access to a wide array of private polling and information from focus groups; a quell of information stretching back over his years as a state-wide candidate and office holder.

2. An emotion or sensation which rises suddenly.
   • 2001, Zane Gates, The Cure, iUniverse ?ISBN, page 241

     A quell of strength over took Robin with each of his words. She was about to fall apart, but Jacob was as brave as a warrior going into battle.

   • 2011, Linda Lee Chaikin, Hawaiian Crosswinds, Moody Publishers ?ISBN

     For a moment their eyes locked, and she felt a quell of anger rise above her apprehension. Reality struck with appalling clarity, yet she could only lie down, partially drugged and untidy as she was from such rough traveling.

   • 2012, Molly Hopkins, It Happened at Boot Camp: Exclusive Novella, Hachette UK ?ISBN

     I read on. It will cost two hundred and fifty quid. I felt a quell of alarm, that's quite expensive.

Middle English

Verb

quell

1. Alternative form of quellen