quell

verb

1. (transitive)To subdue, put down, or silence (someone or something); to force (someone) to submit.

   “The nation obeyed the call, rallied round the sovereign, and enabled him to quell the disaffected minority.”

   “Northward marching to quell the sudden revolt.”

2. (transitive)To suppress, to put an end to (something); to extinguish.

   “to quell grief”

   “to quell the tumult of the soul”

   “However, after quelling Burnley's threat, Southampton failed to build on their growing danger culminating in Tadic's missed penalty.”

3. (obsolete, transitive)To kill.

   “Like barbarous miſcreants, they quelled Virgins vnto death, […]”

   “Well prov'd in that same day, when Jove those gyants quelled.”

4. (intransitive, obsolete)To be subdued or abated; to diminish.

   “Winter's wrath begins to quell.”

5. To die.

   “Yet he did quake and quaver, like to quell.”

noun

1. A subduing.

   “The quell of the rebellion raised Justinian to the acme of power.”

   “Hu had been supportive of Chiang's role throughout the northern expedition and the quell of southern rebellion.”

   “The consequences have not been significant in terms of the quell of any of the three drugs into the United States.”

   “Each Martial Law was marked by the quell of civil liberties or human rights.”

   “But to make things even worse, this is the year of the Seventy-fifth Hunger Games, and that means it's also a Quarter Quell. They occur every twenty-five years, marking the anniversary of the districts' defeat with over-the-top celebrations and, for extra fun, some miserable twist for the tributes.”

2. A source, especially a spring.

   “And when they had eaten, and sat resting in a grotto, he was still singing, and she was the goddess of his Muse, — the quell of living waters out of which he drew fresh strength for new lays.”

   “Other excruciations replaced her namesake's loquacious quells so completely that when, during a lucid interval, she happened to open with her weak little hand a lavabo cock for a drink of water, the tepid lymph replied in its own lingo […]”

   “The strategists had access to a wide array of private polling and information from focus groups; a quell of information stretching back over his years as a state-wide candidate and office holder.”

3. An emotion or sensation which rises suddenly.

   “A quell of strength over took Robin with each of his words. She was about to fall apart, but Jacob was as brave as a warrior going into battle.”

   “For a moment their eyes locked, and she felt a quell of anger rise above her apprehension. Reality struck with appalling clarity, yet she could only lie down, partially drugged and untidy as she was from such rough traveling.”

   “I read on. It will cost two hundred and fifty quid. I felt a quell of alarm, that's quite expensive.”