QUALM • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Qualm

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noun

Qualm n.

Sickness; disease; pestilence; death. (Obs.) " thousand slain and not of qualm ystorve (dead)."

A sudden attack of illness, faintness, or pain; an agony. " Qualms of heartsick agony."

Especially, a sudden sensation of nausea. "For who, without a qualm, hath ever looked On holy garbage, though by Homer cooked?"

A prick or scruple of conscience; uneasiness of conscience; compunction.

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Etymology of 'Qualm'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Qualm" Quotes from Famous Books

... rather to my surprise, he made no objections. A dark pall of resignation had fallen upon him. In such a mood as his, an Indian woman would go to Suttee without a qualm. He pulled the boat to shore, placed a plank, and with a thrilling pride of ...

— The Chauffeur and the Chaperon • C. N. Williamson

... Admiral from the very bottom of his young heart, though he felt a qualm at the thoughts of the sorrow he should cause his mother, even should she consent to part with him her youngest born. It did not, it must be confessed, last very long, and he looked forward anxiously to the result of the Admiral's ...

— The Three Lieutenants • W.H.G. Kingston

... this I should have told you before, that even then, when this Ill-pause was making of his speech to the townsmen, my Lord Innocency—whether by a shot from the camp of the giant, or from some sinking qualm that suddenly took him, or whether by the stinking breath of that treacherous villain old Ill-pause, for so I am most apt to think—sunk down in the place where he stood, nor could he be brought to life again.[40] Thus these two brave men ...

— The Works of John Bunyan • John Bunyan

... so, and when he went out shook his head ruefully. "That confounded sketch must have been the one I lost on board the steamer," he decided with a qualm of misgiving. "However, there is no use meeting trouble half-way by telling Thurston so, until I'm ...

— Thurston of Orchard Valley • Harold Bindloss

... and a reprimand on his own. In fact, Hamilton was hoping that something would turn up to shield him from the effect of his terrible midnight adventure, which seemed the darker the more he thought of it. He had a slow, numb conscience, lying deep where it was hard to reach, and when a qualm somehow entered it he endured in secret what most men would have cast off or confessed. He was haunted, if not with remorse, at least by a dread of something most disagreeable in connection with what he ...

— Alice of Old Vincennes • Maurice Thompson

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