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Possible definitions for quab

quail
Any of several species of short-tailed game birds (family Phasianidae), some with a head plume that is straight or curled forward. Species range from 5 to 13 in. (13-33 cm) long. Some of the 95 Old World species have leg spurs, but the 36 New World species never do. Quails prefer open country and brushy borders. The male may help incubate the 12 eggs. Quails mainly eat seeds and berries but also leaves, roots, and insects. The common quail (Coturnix coturnix) of Eurasia and Africa is the only migratory bird in the order Galliformes. Quails are generally smaller than partridges. See also bobwhite.


quark
Any of a group of subatomic particles thought to be among the fundamental constituents of matter, more specifically, of protons and neutrons. The concept of the quark was first proposed by M. Gell-Mann and George Zweig (b.1937); its name was taken from J. Joyce's novel Finnegans Wake. Quarks include all particles that interact by means of the strong force. They have mass and spin, and they obey the Pauli exclusion principle. They have never been resolved into smaller components, and they never occur alone. Their behavior is explained by the theory of quantum chromodynamics, which provides a means of calculating their basic properties. There are six types of quark, called up, down, strange, charmed, bottom, and top. Only the up and down quarks are needed to make protons and neutrons; the others occur in heavier, unstable particles.


Qutb
Egyptian religious leader and writer executed by Pres. G. A. Nasser. He was from a family of rural notables who had fallen on hard times. His most important book, Signposts, harshly criticized Nasser's rule. When the Muslim Brotherhood tried to assassinate Nasser in 1954, he was among those arrested and imprisoned (1954-64). Rearrested in 1966, he was accused of conspiracy, convicted of treason, and executed.


Bab
Iranian religious leader, founder of the Babi religion and one of the central figures of Baha'i. The son of a merchant, he was influenced by the Shaykhi school of Shiite Islam. In 1844 he wrote a commentary on the sura of Joseph in the Quran and declared himself the Bab (Arabic: "gateway") to the hidden imam. Later he would claim to be the imam himself, and finally a divine manifestation. The same year he assembled 18 disciples, who spread the new faith in the various Persian provinces. He had popular support but was opposed by members of the religious class, and he was arrested near Tehran in 1847 and imprisoned. Meeting at Badasht in 1848, his followers, the Azali, formally broke with Islam. Mirza was executed by a firing squad at Tabriz in 1850.


bulb
In botany, the resting stage of certain seed plants, particularly perennial monocotyledons (see cotyledon), consisting of a relatively large, usually globe-shaped, underground bud with membranous or fleshy overlapping leaves arising from a short stem. The ...

Top words beginning with Q: quinela, quarrying, quaysides, quiproquo, quatrefoils, quot, quartation, qnp, quintant, querulist, quadratically, quadrifariously, qume, quadrifoil, qurush, quarrelsome, quakeproof, quadrilaterals, quachil, quadriphyllous

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