Word.ws English Dictionary

quisby

quisby noun: a wretch; an idle person.

Noun

quisby (plural quisbies)

  1. (obsolete, slang) A wretch; an idle person.

Adjective

quisby (comparative more quisby, superlative most quisby)

  1. (UK, archaic, slang) Mean; destitute; strange.
  2. (UK, archaic, slang) In difficult circumstances; in trouble.
    • [S]he told me as things was a-goin' werry quisby with 'em Wilkses. I says, "I'm sorry for 'er, but he's a party I don't 'old with, as in my opinion deserves to want, only but for others as would want with 'im."
      She says, "He's been and got 'isself in a 'ole with them books as he've been lewanted...1874, Arthur Sketchley, Mrs. Brown and Disraeli, page 151
  3. (UK, archaic, slang) Drunk; tipsy.
    • "[…] Did you know that my husband came home intoxicated?"
      Mrs. Brown laughed.
      "Oh, not so bad as that, surely! Only a little 'screwed.' George was 'quisby,' too. But then its Christmas, you know."1889, Belgravia, volume 70, page 15

Forms of quisby

Noun
pluralquisbies
Adjective
comparativemore quisby
superlativemost quisby

Origin of quisby

Uncertain; perhaps quiz + -by, or from queer or Queer Street (“difficult circumstances”).

Questions about quisby

What does quisby mean?
Quisby means a wretch; an idle person.
What part of speech is quisby?
Quisby can be a noun or an adjective.
What is the plural of quisby?
The plural of quisby is quisbies.

Words near quisby in the dictionary

  1. quirted
  2. quirting
  3. quirts
  4. quis-quis
  5. quisbies
  6. quisby
  7. quiscal
  8. quiscos
  9. quiscoskos
  10. quiscus
  11. Quisenberry

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: quisby (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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