quiz [kwiz] ExamplesWord Origin noun, plural quiz·zes.
- an informal test or examination of a student or class.
- a questioning.
- a practical joke; a hoax.
- Chiefly British. an eccentric, often odd-looking person.
verb (used with object), quizzed, quiz·zing.
- to examine or test (a student or class) informally by questions.
- to question closely: The police quizzed several suspects.
- Chiefly British. to make fun of; ridicule; mock; chaff.
Origin of quiz 1775–85 in sense “odd person”; 1840–50 for def 1; origin uncertainRelated formsquiz·za·ble, adjectivequiz·zer, nounun·quiz·za·ble, adjectiveun·quizzed, adjective Related Words for quizzing query, inquire, investigate, interrogate, grill, exam, investigation, examination, test, check, shotgun, pump, ask, examine, catechize, cross-examine Examples from the Web for quizzing Contemporary Examples of quizzing
The gently mocked iPhone commercial featuring Zooey Deschanel quizzing Siri spawned a wildly popular Twitter spoof.
‘Zooey Asks Siri’ Creator Revealed as Curtis Dickerson
Jenna Marotta
June 9, 2012
And who can forget Wolf Blitzer getting all Yenta-ish and creepy with quizzing the daughters about which ones were “available”?
We’ll Miss the Hunstman Daughters the Most
Michelle Cottle
January 16, 2012
Lowe and Bowen spend as much time asking me about media and politics as I do quizzing them about the art of movie-making.
My All-Too-Brief Acting Career
Howard Kurtz
July 5, 2011
He begins to meet people, quizzing them, transcribing the answers to his questions.
Peter Stothard
October 7, 2010
Historical Examples of quizzing
But quizzing is now so fashionable—nobody can be angry with any body.
Tales And Novels, Volume 4 (of 10)
Maria Edgeworth
Natt ran to the door, followed by a dozen pairs of quizzing eyes.
Sir Hall Caine
By the by, what an escape you had of Emily: she was only quizzing you all the time.
The Confessions of Harry Lorrequer, Complete
Charles James Lever (1806-1872)
“The detectives are quizzing the servants in the library,” he said.
John Reed Scott
I would seem to ask him with my most venomous and quizzing smile.
Leo Tolstoy
British Dictionary definitions for quizzing quiz noun plural quizzes
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- an entertainment in which the general or specific knowledge of the players is tested by a series of questions, esp as a radio or television programme
- (as modifier)a quiz programme
- any set of quick questions designed to test knowledge
- an investigation by close questioning; interrogation
- obsolete a practical joke; hoax
- obsolete a puzzling or eccentric individual
- obsolete a person who habitually looks quizzically at others, esp through a small monocle
verb quizzes, quizzing or quizzed (tr)
- to investigate by close questioning; interrogate
- US and Canadian informal to test or examine the knowledge of (a student or class)
- (tr) obsolete to look quizzically at, esp through a small monocle
Derived Formsquizzer, nounWord Origin for quiz C18: of unknown origin Word Origin and History for quizzing quiz n.
1867, “brief examination of a student on some subject,” perhaps from quiz (v.), or from apparently unrelated slang word quiz “odd person” (1782, source of quizzical). According to OED, the anecdote that credits this word to a bet by the Dublin theater-manager Daly or Daley that he could coin a word is regarded by authorities as “doubtful” and the first record of it appears to be in 1836 (in Smart’s “Walker Remodelled”; the story is omitted in the edition of 1840).
The word Quiz is a sort of a kind of a word
That people apply to some being absurd;
One who seems, as t’were oddly your fancy to strike
In a sort of a fashion you somehow don’t like
A mixture of odd, and of queer, and all that
Which one hates, just, you know, as some folks hate a cat;
A comical, whimsical, strange, droll — that is,
You know what I mean; ’tis — in short, — ’tis a quiz!
1847, “to question,” quies, perhaps from Latin qui es? “who are you?,” first question in oral exams in Latin in old-time grammar schools. Spelling quiz first recorded 1886, though it was in use as a noun spelling from 1867, perhaps in this case from apparently unrelated slang word quiz “odd person” (1782, source of quizzical). Cf. quisby “queer, not quite right; bankrupt” (slang from 1807). From the era of radio quiz shows comes quizzee (n.), 1940.