The Collaborative International Dictionary
Quiz \Quiz\ (kw[i^]z), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Quizzed (kw[i^]zd); p. pr. & vb. n. Quizzing (kw[i^]z"z[i^]ng).]
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To puzzle; to banter; 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.
--Thackeray. To peer at; to eye suspiciously or mockingly.
To instruct in or by a quiz. See Quiz, n.,
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[U.S.]
Quizzing glass, a small eyeglass.
Wiktionary
n. (context dated English) The act by which somebody is quizzed, or teased. vb. (present participle of quiz English)
WordNet
See quiz
Usage examples of "quizzing".
Damerel, quizzing him, but with such an understanding smile in his eves that Aubrey forbore to take offence.
With his eyes on her and one eyebrow elevated, he grasped the handle of his quizzing glass and raised it halfway to his eye as if utterly incredulous of the fact that she had the effrontery to hold his gaze.
But she showed him with her eyes that she was not to be cowed by a single eyebrow and a half-raised quizzing glass.
She would grow into an eccentric old lady who peered at the world through a giant quizzing glass, terrifying the pretentious and amusing young children with her hideously magnified eye.
Wulfric turned his quizzing glass upon the young man, unsure whether he was being subtly reprimanded for being high in the instep or whether he was being treated as some sort of comrade who was expected to agree that out-and-outers made more desirable companions than ladies with refined manners.
If ever she caught his eyeand it happened altogether too frequentlyhe lofted one eyebrow or both and grasped the handle of his quizzing glass as if he were about to verify the amazing fact that such a lowly mortal really had dared lift her eyes to his.
That he would chase her down and beat her into submission with his quizzing glass?
She had mental images of herself pummeling his chest with both fists, stamping on his boots with both feet, and twisting his quizzing glass into a corkscrew while screeching at him like a demented night owl.
The fingers of his right hand found the handle of his quizzing glass and closed about it.
He fingered the handle of his quizzing glass while Lady Falconbridge tapped one impatient foot on the floor.
The ducal eyes rested on her for a moment, and the ducal quizzing glass was raised to the level of the ducal chest.
The duke had his quizzing glass to his eye and was examining the painting through it from a distance of two feet.
He dropped his quizzing glass, picked up his spoon again, and addressed his attention to his custard.
The fingers of his right hand found the handle of his quizzing glass, and for a moment her eyes followed the gesture and made him conscious of it.
She snatched the quizzing glass out of his nerveless hand, yanked the black ribbon off over his head, and sent the glass flying with one furious flick of her wrist.