Category:Qualm

Qualm, n. Etym: [as. cwealm death, slaughter, pestilence, akin to os. & ohg. qualm. See quail to cower.]

1. Sickness; disease; pestilence; death. [obs.] Thousand slain and not of qualm ystorve [dead]. Chaucer.

2. A sudden attack of illness, faintness, or pain; an agony. " qualms Of heartsick agony." Milton.

3. Especially, a sudden sensation of nausea. For who, without a qualm, hath ever looked on holy garbage, though by Homer cooked roscommon.

4. A prick or scruple of conscience; uneasiness of conscience; Compunction. Dryden.