A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)
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First published 1986 (DOST Vol. VI).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1477-1503, 1579-1650
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Querel(o)us, -o(i)s, Querrellous(e, Quarrel(l)ous, adj. [ME querelous(e (c1400) fault-finding, complaining, querulous, e.m.E. quarellouse (1490) id., quarilous (1556) quarrelsome, contentious, OF querelo(u)s (F. querelleux), late L. querēlōs-us; e.m.E. also querulose (?a1500) complaining, peevish, late L. querulōs-us.In Sc. appar. rare (in our material only the 15–16th c. Reg. Cupar A. and Chart. Coupar A. quots.) before c1580.]
a. Given to complaining or apt to complain; complaining, repining. b. Fault-finding, contentious, disputatious, quarrelsome; rebellious. 1477 Reg. Cupar A. I 206.
Tha sal kep gud nichtburhed that of resoun thar nichtburis be nocht querelos of tham 1483 Ib. 236.
Querelois 1503 Chart. Coupar A. II 112.
Querelous 1579–80 Reg. Privy C. III 260.
Anent the quarrellous speiche usitt be him [to Robert Bruce] 1581 Hamilton Cath. Tr. in 1573-1600 Cath. Tr. (S.T.S.) 84/1.
Thir ar murmurers, querelus [L. querulosi], liuing efter thair auin lusts 1581-1623 James VI Poems I 143/282.
& great inpietie uyle, The querrellous [v.r. quarrelous] scisme 1598 Id. Basil. Doron 118/9.
Thinke a querrellouse man a pest in youre cumpanie a1599 Rollock Wks. I 392.
They ar ever quarrelling the gospell … they that gettis leist gude of it ever maist quarrellous. … Bewar of this quarrellous complexion 1609 Grahame Anat. Hum. 4b. 1637 Rutherford Lett. (1891) 359.
It is much for Christ (if I may say so) to get law-borrows of my sorrow, and of my quarrelous heart 1637 Ib. 371.
Contestations and quarrelous replies … smell of the stink of strong corruption c1650 Spalding II 48.
Betuixt whome fell out sum querrellous speiches
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"Querelus adj.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 14 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/dost/querelous>
