quote

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   To repeat the exact words that someone has written or said.

   In her essay she quoted a famous line from Shakespeare.

2. 2
   noun

   A group of words taken from a book, speech, or person and repeated exactly.

   She wrote her favourite quote at the top of the page.

3. 3
   verb

   To tell a customer how much a job or product will cost.

   The builder quoted me $5,000 for the new roof.

4. 4
   noun

   A statement of how much a piece of work will cost.

   We asked three companies for a quote before choosing one.

5. 5
   verb

   To mention something as an example or as proof.

   He quoted several cases where the rule had failed.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Quote comes from medieval Latin quotare, based on Latin quot, “how many.” It first meant to number or mark a book with marginal references, then to identify a passage by page or chapter, and by the late 16th century to cite a text or person.

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *kʷ- Proto-Indo-European *kʷó- Proto-Indo-European *-ti Proto-Indo-European *kʷótider. Proto-Italic *kʷot Latin quot Latin quotus Medieval Latin quotāreder. Old French coterbor. Middle English quoten English quote From Middle English quoten, coten (“to mark (a book) with chapter numbers or marginal references”), from Old French coter, from Medieval Latin quotāre (“to distinguish by numbers, number chapters”), itself from Latin quotus (“which, what number (in sequence)”), from quot (“how many”) and related to quis (“who”). The sense developed via “to give as a…

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External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary