Eccentric vs Quaint - What's the difference?
eccentric | quaint | Synonyms |
Not at or in the centre; away from the centre.
* 2011 , Michael Laver, Ernest Sergenti. Party Competition: An Agent-Based Model ,
Not perfectly circular; elliptical.
Having a different center; not concentric.
(of a person) deviating from the norm; behaving unexpectedly or differently.
* 1801', Author not named, ''Fyfield (John)'', entry in '''''Eccentric Biography; Or, Sketches of Remarkable Characters, Ancient and Modern ,
* 1807', G. H. Wilson (editor), ''The '''Eccentric Mirror , Volume 3,
* 1956 , , The City and the Stars , 2012,
(physiology, of a motion) Against or in the opposite direction of contraction of a muscle (e.g., such as results from flexion of the lower arm (bending of the elbow joint) by an external force while contracting the triceps and other elbow extensor muscles to control that movement; opening of the jaw while flexing the masseter).
Having different goals or motives.
* , 1867 , Richard Whately (analysis and notes), James R. Boyd (editor), Essay XI: Wisdom for a Man's Self'', ''Lord Bacon's Essays ,
One who does not behave like others.
* 1998 , Michael Gross, Life On The Edge , 2001,
A disk or wheel with its axis off centre, giving a reciprocating motion.
* 1840 , Dionysius Lardner, The Steam Engine Explained and Illustrated ,
* 1994 , James M. Lattis, Between Copernicus and Galileo: Christoph Clavius and the Collapse of Ptolemaic Cosmology ,
* 2007 , George Saliba, Islamic Science and the Making of the European Renaissance ,
(slang) A kook.
(obsolete) Of a person: cunning, crafty.
* 1591 , (William Shakespeare), Henry VI part 2 :
(obsolete) Cleverly made; artfully contrived.
* 1667 , (John Milton), Paradise Lost , Book IX:
* 1596 , (Edmund Spenser), The Faerie Queene , IV.4:
* 1808 , (Walter Scott), Marmion XX:
* 1924 , Time , 17 Nov 1924:
(obsolete) Overly discriminating or needlessly meticulous; fastidious; prim.
* 1590 , (Edmund Spenser), The Faerie Queene , III.7:
Pleasingly unusual; especially, having old-fashioned charm.
* 1815 , (Jane Austen), Emma :
* 2011 , Ian Sample, The Guardian , 31 Jan 2011:
(archaic) The vulva.
* c. 1390 , Geoffrey Chaucer, "The Wife of Bath's Tale", Canterbury Tales :
* 2003 , Peter Ackroyd, The Clerkenwell Tales , p. 9:
As adjectives the difference between eccentric and quaint
is that eccentric is not at or in the centre; away from the centre while quaint is of a person: cunning, crafty.As nouns the difference between eccentric and quaint
is that eccentric is one who does not behave like others while quaint is the vulva.eccentric
English
Alternative forms
* eccentrick (obsolete) * excentric * excentrick (obsolete)Adjective
(en adjective)page 125,
- Strikingly, we see that party births tend systematically to be at policy positions that are significantly more eccentric than those of surviving parties, whatever decision rule these parties use.
- As of 2008, Margaret had the most eccentric orbit of any moon in the solar system, though Nereid's mean eccentricity is greater.
page 127,
- He was a man of a most eccentric turn of mind, and great singularity of conduct.
page 17,
- Such is not the case with Mr. Martin Van Butchell, one of the most eccentric characters to be found in the British metropolis, and a gentleman of indisputable science and abilities, but whose strange humors and extraordinary habits, have rather tended to obscure than to display the talents he possessed.
unnumbered page,
- Khedron was the only other person in the city who could be called eccentric —and even his eccentricity had been planned by the designers of Diaspar.
page 171,
- .
Usage notes
* . See also (Isometric exercise)Synonyms
* (not at or in the centre) eccentrical, excentrical * (not perfectly circular) eccentrical, excentrical * (having a different centre) eccentrical, excentrical * (deviating from the norm) eccentrical, excentrical, odd, abnormal * (against the contraction of a muscle) * (having different goals or motives) eccentrical, excentricalAntonyms
* (against the contraction of a muscle) concentricDerived terms
* eccentricallyNoun
(en noun)page ix,
- Eccentrics live longer, happier, and healthier lives than conformist normal citizens, according to the neuropsychologist David Weeks.
page 379,
- The position of the eccentrics' which is necessary to make the pistons drive the engine forward must be directly the reverse of that which would cause them to drive the engine backwards. To be able, therefore, to reverse the motion of the engine, it would only be necessary to be able to reverse the position of the ' eccentrics , which may be accomplished by either of two expedients.
page 116,
- Clavius goes on to use the large number of orbs in Fracostoro's theory as another reason to prefer the Ptolemaic system, then couples this issue with that of the relative capacity of the theories to save the phenomena, then finally reiterates the lack (as he sees it) of conflict between the Aristotelian natural philosophy and the eccentrics and epicycles of mathematical astronomy.
page 120,
- The discussion that revolved around the admissibility of eccentrics' and epicycles lied(sic) at the core of this theoretical discussion, and those who would not allow such concepts took the position that such ' eccentrics and epicycles would then introduce a center of heaviness, other than the Earth, around which celestial simple objects would then move.
See also
* acentricquaint
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) cointe, (queinte) et al., (etyl) .Adjective
(er)- But you, my Lord, were glad to be imploy'd, / To shew how queint an Orator you are.
- describe races and games, / Or tilting furniture, imblazon'd shields, / Impresses quaint , caparisons and steeds, / Bases and tinsel trappings [...].
- Till that there entered on the other side / A straunger knight, from whence no man could reed, / In quyent disguise, full hard to be descride […].
- Lord Gifford, deep beneath the ground, / Heard Alexander's bugle sound, / And tarried not his garb to change, / But, in his wizard habit strange, / Came forth,—a quaint and fearful sight!
- What none would dispute though many smiled over was the good-humored, necessary, yet quaint omission of the writer's name from the whole consideration.
- She, nothing quaint / Nor 'sdeignfull of so homely fashion, / Sith brought she was now to so hard constraint, / Sate downe upon the dusty ground anon [...].
- I admire all that quaint , old-fashioned politeness; it is much more to my taste than modern ease; modern ease often disgusts me.
- The rock is a haven for rare wildlife, a landscape where pretty hedgerows and quaint villages are bordered by a breathtaking, craggy coastline.
Synonyms
* See alsoDerived terms
* quaintly * quaintnessEtymology 2
A variant of cunt (possibly as a pun).Noun
(en noun)- And trewely, as myne housbondes tolde me, / I hadde þe beste queynte þat myghte be.
- The rest looked on, horrified, as Clarice trussed up her habit and in open view placed her hand within her queynte crying, ‘The first house of Sunday belongs to the sun, and the second to Venus.’