quiz
noun
[ kwɪz ]
• a test of knowledge, especially as a competition between individuals or teams as a form of entertainment.
• "a sports quiz"
quiz
verb
• ask (someone) questions.
• "four men have been quizzed about the murder"
Similar:
question,
interrogate,
put questions to,
probe,
sound out,
interview,
examine,
cross-examine,
catechize,
grill,
put the screws on,
pump,
give someone the third degree,
worm something out of someone,
Origin:
mid 19th century (as a verb; originally US): possibly from quiz2, influenced by inquisitive.
quiz
verb
• look curiously or intently at (someone) through or as if through an eyeglass.
• "deep-set eyes quizzed her in the candlelight"
• make fun of.
• "is it possible he has heard of my foible and is quizzing me?"
quiz
noun
• a practical joke or hoax.
• "I am impatient to know if the whole be not one grand quiz"
• an odd or eccentric person.
• "she means to marry that quiz for the sake of his thousands"
Origin:
late 18th century: sometimes said to have been invented by a Dublin theatre proprietor who, having made a bet that a nonsense word could be made known within 48 hours throughout the city, and that the public would give it a meaning, had the word written up on walls all over the city. There is no evidence to support this theory.
