quiz

Etymology

Attested since the 1780s, of unknown origin. * The Century Dictionary suggests it was originally applied to a popular toy, from a dialectal variant of whiz. * The Random House Dictionary suggests the original sense was "odd person" (circa 1780). * Others suggest the meaning "hoax" was original (1796), shifting to the meaning "interrogate" (1847) under the influence of question and inquisitive. * Some say without evidence it was invented by a late-18th-century Dublin theatre proprietor who bet he could add a new nonsense word to the English language; he had the word painted on walls all over the city, and the morning after, everyone was talking about it (The Pre-Victorian Drama in Dublin). * Others suggest it was originally quies (1847), Latin qui es? (who are you?), traditionally the first question in oral Latin exams. They suggest that it was first used as a noun from 1867, and the spelling quiz first recorded in 1886, but this is demonstrably incorrect. * A further derivation, assuming that the original sense is "good, ingenuous, harmless man, overly conventional, pedantic, rule-bound man, square; nerd; oddball, eccentric", is based on a column from 1785 which claims that the origin is a jocular translation of the Horace quotation vir bonus est quis as "the good man is a quiz" at Cambridge.

noun

1. (dated) An odd, puzzling or absurd person or thing.
   I've always heard he was a quiz, says another, or a quoz, or some such word ; but I did not know he was such a book-worm. 1796, Fanny Burney, Camilla: or, A picture of youth, by the author of Evelina, page 99
   I tell you I am going to the music shop. I trust to your honour. Lord Rawson, I know, will call me a fool for trusting to the honour of a quiz. 1833, Maria Edgeworth, Moral Tales, volume 1, page 204
   Where did you get that quiz of a hat? It makes you look like an old witch. 1803, Jane Austen, chapter 7, in Northanger Abbey, published 1816
   “I’m afraid you’re a sad quiz,” said Mrs. Bungay. ¶ “Quiz! never made a joke in my—hullo! who’s here? How d’ye do, Pendennis? 1850, William Makepeace Thackeray, The History of Pendennis
2. (dated) One who questions or interrogates; a prying person.
3. A competition in the answering of questions.
   We came second in the pub quiz.
   Once all six friends are clear that the topic of Janet's story is a pub quiz, we launch into talk around this topic, combining factual information about quizzes we have participated in with fantasies about becoming a team ourselves. 1997, Jennifer Coates, “The construction of a collaborative floor in women’s friendly talk”, in Talmy Givón, editor, Conversation: Cognitive, Communicative and Social Perspectives, page 72
4. (education) A school examination of less importance, or of greater brevity, than others given in the same course.
   For many it is hard to envision a scenario where a student completes an online quiz (or test) without using their smartphone, tablet, or other device to look up the answers, or ‘share’ those answers with other students. May 18, 2015, Matt Farrell, Shannon Maheu, “Why open-book tests deserve a place in your courses”, in Faculty Focus

verb

1. (transitive, archaic) To hoax; to chaff or mock with pretended seriousness of discourse; to make sport of, as by obscure questions.
   he quizzed unmercifully all the men in the room 1850, William Makepeace Thackeray, The History of Pendennis
   'Now, Puddock, back him up—encourage your man,' said Devereux, who took a perverse pleasure in joking; 'tell him to flay the lump, splat him, divide him, and cut him in two pieces—' It was a custom of the corps to quiz Puddock about his cookery […] 1863, Sheridan Le Fanu, The House by the Churchyard
2. (transitive, archaic) To peer at; to eye suspiciously or mockingly.
3. (transitive) To question (someone) closely, to interrogate.
4. (transitive) To instruct (someone) by means of a quiz.
5. (transitive, obsolete, rare) To play with a quiz.