Alternative forms

• quæry (archaic)

Etymology

An anglicisation of quere, an obsolete variant form of LatinCategory:English terms derived from Latin#QUERY quaere, second-person singular present active imperative of quaerō (“seek, look for; ask”); perhaps suffixed with -y (“abstract noun”). Cognate with French quérir, Italian chiedere, Portuguese querer, Romanian cere, and Spanish querer. Compare question.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈkwɪə.ɹi/Category:English 2-syllable words#QUERYCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#QUERY

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

    Category:English terms with audio pronunciation#QUERY
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈkwɪ.ɹi/, /ˈkwɛ.ɹi/Category:English 2-syllable words#QUERYCategory:English 2-syllable words#QUERYCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#QUERY
• (Scotland) IPA^(key): /ˈkwi.ɹɪ/, /ˈkwi.ɹe/Category:English 2-syllable words#QUERYCategory:English 2-syllable words#QUERYCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#QUERY
• (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ˈkwiə.ɹi/Category:English 2-syllable words#QUERYCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#QUERY
• (East Anglia, cheer–chair merger) IPA^(key): /ˈkwɛː.ɹi/Category:English 2-syllable words#QUERYCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#QUERY
• (Indic) IPA^(key): /ˈkʋɛ.ri/Category:English 2-syllable words#QUERYCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#QUERY
• Rhymes: -ɪəɹi, -ɛɹiCategory:Rhymes:English/ɪəɹi#QUERYCategory:Rhymes:English/ɪəɹi/2 syllables#QUERYCategory:Rhymes:English/ɛɹi#QUERYCategory:Rhymes:English/ɛɹi/2 syllables#QUERY

Noun

query (plural queries)Category:English lemmas#QUERYCategory:English nouns#QUERYCategory:English countable nouns#QUERYCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#QUERYCategory:Pages with entries#QUERYCategory:Pages with 1 entry#QUERY

1. A question, an inquiry (US), an enquiry (UK).

   The teacher answered the student’s query concerning biosynthesis.Category:English terms with usage examples#QUERY

   • 1910, Emerson Hough, “The Gateway, and Some Who Passed”, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC, page 29:

     Carried somehow, somewhither, for some reason, on these surging floods, were these travelers, of errand not wholly obvious to their fellows, yet of such sort as to call into query alike the nature of their errand and their own relations.

     Category:English terms with quotations#QUERY

2. A question mark.
   • 1886, Skeat, Address of the President to the Philological Society, Great Britain:

     His Glossary has ‘bouchen, to stop people's mouths,’; but this is followed by a query, to show that it was but a guess. I have shown, from the MSS. and other sources, that it should be bonched, i.e. bunched, bumped, knocked, smote.

     Category:English terms with quotations#QUERY

     Category:Quotation templates to be cleaned
   • 1973, Oliver Sacks, Awakenings:

     She had written in her diary: "I don't think I am in a concentration-camp??????", the queries growing larger and more numerous till they covered the entire page […]

     Category:English terms with quotations#QUERY

     Category:Quotation templates to be cleaned
   • 2006, Pip, “Re: Royal Enfield motorbike - why would anyone buy one?”, in rec.motorcycles (Usenet):

     I refer you to your line above, where you use a query and a bang together.

     Category:English terms with quotations#QUERY

3. (computingCategory:en:Computing#QUERY, databasesCategory:en:Databases#QUERY) A set of instructions passed to a database.

   The database admin switched on query logging for debugging purposes.Category:English terms with usage examples#QUERY

4. (publishingCategory:en:Publishing#QUERY) Ellipsis of query letterCategory:English ellipses#QUERY.
   • 2006, Michael Larsen, How to Get a Literary Agent‎, Sourcebooks Inc., page 46:

     Although many agents accept email queries, check to see if they prefer mailed query letters.

     Category:English terms with quotations#QUERY

Verb

query (third-person singular simple present queries, present participle querying, simple past and past participle queried)Category:English lemmas#QUERYCategory:English verbs#QUERYCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#QUERYCategory:Pages with entries#QUERYCategory:Pages with 1 entry#QUERY

1. (intransitiveCategory:English intransitive verbs#QUERY) To ask a question.
2. (transitiveCategory:English transitive verbs#QUERY) To ask, inquire.
   • 1661, Joseph Glanvill, chapter XX, in The Vanity of Dogmatizing: Or Confidence in Opinions. […], London: […] E. C[otes] for Henry Eversden […], →OCLC, page 188:

     It’s queried whether there be any Science in the ſenſe of the Dogmatiſts: […]

     Category:English terms with quotations#QUERY

   • 1994, Dermot Healy, “As Gaelige”, in A Goat’s Song, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Viking, published 1995, →ISBN, part II (The Salmon of Knowledge), page 160:

     “You must have had an active life,” queried the shopkeeper, “before you retired?”

     Category:English terms with quotations#QUERY

   • 1997 August 16, PRINCESSPK, “Re: Opinions wanted for magazine article”, in alt.showbiz.gossip‎ (Usenet):

     I tried that once in an AOL thing called "The Arena", I can't remember who the celebrity was, but I posed some divinely thoughtful, inspired, well-crafted question, and they chose one, instead, that querried^[sic] her favourite colour, quelle banel.

     Category:English terms with quotations#QUERY

3. (transitiveCategory:English transitive verbs#QUERY) To question or call into doubt.
   • 1963, Margery Allingham, “Eye Witness”, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC, page 249:

     The story struck the depressingly familiar note with which true stories ring in the tried ears of experienced policemen. No one queried it. It was in the classic pattern of human weakness, mean and embarrassing and sad.

     Category:English terms with quotations#QUERY

4. (computingCategory:en:Computing#QUERY, databasesCategory:en:Databases#QUERY) To pass a set of instructions to a database to retrieve information from it.
   • 1999, Luciano Floridi, Philosophy and computing: an introduction, page 104:

     Linked tables can be accessed, queried, combined and reorganised much more flexibly and in a number of ways that may not be immediately predictable when the database is under construction.

     Category:English terms with quotations#QUERY

5. (transitiveCategory:English transitive verbs#QUERY, InternetCategory:en:Internet#QUERY) To send a private message to (a user on IRC).
   • 2000, Robert Erdec, “Re: Help; mIRC32; unable to resolve server arnes.si”, in alt.irc.mirc (Usenet):

     if you know someone who is in the channel, you can query them and ask for the key.

     Category:English terms with quotations#QUERY

6. (intransitiveCategory:English intransitive verbs#QUERY, publishingCategory:en:Publishing#QUERY) To send out a query letter.

Related terms

References