English

Noun

quietus ‎(usually uncountable, plural quietuses)

1. A stillness or pause; something that quiets or represses; removal from activity; especially: death.
   • c. 1600, William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Hamlet, Act III, Scene 1:

     […] when he might himself his quietus make with a bare bodkin?

   • 1886, Henry James, The Bostonians.

     Olive's specific terrors and dangers had by this time very much blown over; Basil Ransom had given no sign of life for ages, and Henry Burrage had certainly got his quietus before they went to Europe.

2. Final settlement (as of a debt).

Related terms

• quiescence
• quiet
• quietude

Latin

Etymology

Perfect passive participle of quiēscō ‎(“repose, lie still”).

Participle

quiētus m ‎(feminine quiēta, neuter quiētum); first/second declension

1. at rest/nap, quiet, keeping quiet.
2. peaceful, neutral.
3. tranquil, calm.
4. excused, absolved of

Inflection

First/second declension.

Related terms

• quiēscō
• quiētālis
• quiētī

Descendants

References

• quietus in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• quietus in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• QUIETUS in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)
• Félix Gaffiot (1934), “quietus”, in Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Paris: Hachette.
• Meissner, Carl; Auden, Henry William (1894) Latin Phrase-Book, London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to lay oneself down to slee: somno or quieti se tradere
    
  • in a dream: per quietem, in quiete
    
  • to remain inactive in camp: se (quietum) tenere castris
    
• quietus in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898) Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers