quire

== English == === Pronunciation === (UK) IPA(key): /ˈkwaɪ.ə(ɹ)/ Rhymes: -aɪə(ɹ) Homophone: choir === Etymology 1 === From Middle English quayer, from Anglo-Norman quaier and Old French quaer, from Latin quaternus (“fourfold”), from quater (“four times”). Doublet of cahier. ==== Noun ==== quire (plural quires) One-twentieth of a ream of paper; a collection of twenty-four or twenty-five sheets of paper of the same size and quality, unfolded or having a single fold. (bookbinding) A set of leaves which are stitched together, originally a set of four pieces of paper (eight leaves, sixteen pages). This is most often a single signature (i.e. group of four), but may be several nested signatures. A book, poem, or pamphlet. ===== Coordinate terms ===== (quantity of paper): bale, bundle, ream ===== Derived terms ===== ===== Translations ===== ==== Verb ==== quire (third-person singular simple present quires, present participle quiring, simple past and past participle quired) (bookbinding) To prepare quires by stitching together leaves of paper. ==== See also ==== Units of paper quantity on Wikipedia.Wikipedia === Etymology 2 === From Middle English quer, quere, from Old French quer, from Latin chorus, from Ancient Greek χορός (khorós, “company of dancers or singers”). Doublet of choir, chorus, and hora. ==== Noun ==== quire (plural quires) (architecture) Uncommon form of choir (“one quarter of a cruciform church, or the architectural area of a church used by the choir, often near the apse”). Archaic spelling of choir (“group of people who sing together”). 1597–1598, Joseph Hall, Virgidemiarum Yea, and the prophet of the heav'nly lyre, / Great Solomon sings in the English quire […] ===== Derived terms ===== ==== Verb ==== quire (third-person singular simple present quires, present participle quiring, simple past and past participle quired) Poetic spelling of choir (“to sing in concert”). ==== Usage notes ==== Although quire and choir originated as two spellings of the same word, they have gradually diverged in meaning in modern English. ==== See also ==== quire ken == Latin == === Verb === quīre present active infinitive of queō