What is "quietus"

Quietus \Qui*e"tus\, n. [LL. quietus quit, discharged, L., at rest, quiet, dead. See Quiet, a., and cf. Quit, a.] Final discharge or acquittance, as from debt or obligation; that which silences claims; (Fig.) rest; death.

When he himself might his quietus make With a bare bodkin.
--Shak.

"discharge, clearing of accounts," 1530s, short for Medieval Latin phrase quietus est "he is quit" (see quit). Hence, "death" (i.e. "final discharge"), c.1600. Latin quies also was used for "the peace of death."

n. 1 A stillness or pause; something that quiets or represses; removal from activity; especially: death. 2 Final settlement (as of a debt).

n. euphemisms for death (based on an analogy between lying in a bed and in a tomb); "she was laid to rest beside her husband"; "they had to put their family pet to sleep" [syn: rest, eternal rest, sleep, eternal sleep]

Titus Fulvius Iunius Quietus (died 261) was a Roman usurper against Roman Emperor Gallienus.

Quietus was the son of Fulvius Macrianus and a noblewoman, possibly named Iunia. According to Historia Augusta, he was a military tribune under Valerian, but this information is challenged by historians.

He gained the imperial office with his brother Macrianus Minor, after the capture of Emperor Valerian in the Sassanid campaign of 260. With the lawful heir, Gallienus, being far away in the West, the soldiers elected the two emperors. The support of his father, controller of the imperial treasure, and the influence of Balista, Praetorian prefect of the late Emperor Valerian, proved instrumental in his promotion.

Quietus and Macrianus, elected consuls, had to face the Emperor Gallienus, at the time in the West. Quietus and Ballista stayed in the eastern provinces, while his brother and father marched their army to Europe to seize control of the Roman Empire. After the defeat and deaths of his brother and father in Thrace in 261, Quietus lost the control of the provinces in favour of Septimus Odaenathus of Palmyra, a loyal client king of the Romans who had helped push the Persians out of the eastern provinces and recovered Roman Mesopotamia in 260. Forced to flee to the city of Emesa, he was besieged there by Odaenathus, during the course of which he was killed by its inhabitants, possibly instigated by Ballista.

Quietus is the second album by the American doom metal band Evoken. It was released in 2001.

Titus Fulvius Iunius Quietus (died 261) was a Roman usurper.

Quietus (Latin for "calm" or "at rest") may also refer to:

People:

• Lusius Quietus, Roman general and governor
• Tiberius Avidius Quietus, Roman politician

In popular culture:

• Quietus, a Latin word used by William Shakespeare in the " To be, or not to be" soliloquy of his play Hamlet
• Quietus, a 1940 short sci-fi story by Ross Rocklynne
• Quietus, a 1979 short story by Orson Scott Card
• "Quietus", the name of a mass-drowning ceremony in the 1992 novel The Children of Men
  • "Quietus", the name of a suicide kit in the 2006 film adaptation, Children of Men
• Quietus, a spell used in the Harry Potter series of books; see Spells in Harry Potter#Quietus
• Quietus (album), a 2001 album by the doom metal band Evoken
• Quietus (Silent Reverie), a song from the 2005 album Consign to Oblivion by Epica
• Quietus: To The New World, a short sci-fi movie by the Lowry Bros.
• "Quietus", a vampiric discipline from the Assamite clan in the role-playing game Vampire: the Masquerade.
• "Quietus", a branch of the organization Contact in Iain M. Banks' fictional Culture universe
• "Quietus", a planet in the comic book series "Saga" by Brian K. Vaughan and illustrated by Fiona Staples.

Other:

• The Quietus, a British online music and pop culture magazine
• Lactarius quietus, a species of mushroom
• "Quietus", a homeopathic medication marketed as a palliative for tinnitus
• A "quietus" is a receipt of acquittance granted upon payment of a debt or to confirm no debt exists. Also called simply an "acquittance".