qua

Preposition

qua

1. as; in the capacity of; acting as
   • Qua work of art, the work of art cannot be interpreted; there is nothing to interpret; we can only criticize it according to standards, in comparison to other works of art; […]1920, T. S. Eliot, “Hamlet and His Problems”, in The Sacred Wood
   • As anatomy, physiology and, later, psychology have developed into more or less well-organized sciences, they have necessarily and rightly come to incorporate the study of, among other things, the structures, mechanisms, and functionings of animal and human bodies qua percipient.1954: Gilbert Ryle, Dilemmas: The Tarner Lectures, 1953, dilemma vii: Perception, page 99 (The Syndics of the Cambridge University Press)

Interjection

1. The cawing sound of a crow.
   • Crows have a language of their own in a wild state that any observant person can learn. […] Then he would straighten his head back and, with the most comical bowing and wagging, say: "Qua qua qua, qua qua qua" for perhaps a minute.1909, The Country Gentleman, volume 74, page 266
   • Qua... qua... qua... out of the blue I hear the crows cawing with great fanfare as they announce to the world at large that they are here by my side and intend to probe into my being.2012, Jaman Tree, I Crow River