quaker

Etymology

noun

1. Quaker
   The timid and trimming politics of some men of large property here have almost done their business for them. They have lost their influence, and grown obnoxious. The quakers and proprietarians together have little weight. New Jersey shows a noble ardor. Is there any thing in the air or soil of New York unfriendly to the spirit of liberty? 24 June 1776, John Adams, “[General Correspondence.] To William Tudor.”, in Charles Francis Adams [Sr.], editor, The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States: With a Life of the Author, Notes and Illustrations,[…], volume IX, Boston, Mass.: Little, Brown and Company, published 1854, page 411
   There is also a chancellor, — no, I mistake, — a chandler and green-grocer, with his hands full of warts; a hunch-backed cadger; a one-eyed cutler; a pudgy exciseman, who is often the worse for liquor, being fond of tippling and sotting in taps; a lubberly fuller; a limping, spoffish limner; a tawer, with a wen or a whelk on the tip of his nose; a stuttering plumber; a splenish quaker; a sexton, with teeth like the times of a harrow; a weazen-faced vintner; a snuffling undertaker’s mute, clothed in deep mourning, and talking of nothing but hearses and palls, dirges and passing-bells. 1857, T[héodore] Robertson, “[Charles Saville:[…]] Chapter XXV”, in Synthèse de la langue anglaise (Charles Saville) : Texte anglais avec la traduction française en regard [Synthesis of the English Language (Charles Saville): English Text with Opposite French Translation], 2nd edition, Paris: Librairie française et anglaise de [French and English bookshop of] J.-H. Truchy; Ch. Leroy, successeur [successor]; […], page 240
2. (entomology) Any of various lycaenid butterflies of the genus Pithecops.