4. Inquest; jury of inquest.
What lawful quest have given their verdict ?
Shak. Quest
(Quest), v. t. [Cf. OF. quester, F. quêter. See Quest, n.] To search for; to examine. [R.] Sir
T. Herbert.
Quest
(Quest), v. i. To go on a quest; to make a search; to go in pursuit; to beg. [R.]
If his questing had been unsuccessful, he appeased the rage of hunger with some scraps of broken
meat.
Macaulay. Questant
(Quest"ant) n. [OF. questant, F. quêtant, p. pr.] One who undertakes a quest; a seeker. [Obs.]
Shak.
Quester
(Quest"er) n. One who seeks; a seeker. [Obs.]
Question
(Ques"tion) n. [F., fr. L. quaestio, fr. quaerere, quaesitum, to seek for, ask, inquire. See
Quest, n.]
1. The act of asking; interrogation; inquiry; as, to examine by question and answer.
2. Discussion; debate; hence, objection; dispute; doubt; as, the story is true beyond question; he obeyed
without question.
There arose a question between some of John's disciples and the Jews about purifying.
John iii. 25.
It is to be to question, whether it be lawful for Christian princes to make an invasive war simply for the
propagation of the faith.
Bacon. 3. Examination with reference to a decisive result; investigation; specifically, a judicial or official investigation; also,
examination under torture. Blackstone.
He that was in question for the robbery. Shak.
The Scottish privy council had power to put state prisoners
to the question.
Macaulay. 4. That which is asked; inquiry; interrogatory; query.
But this question asked
Puts me in doubt. Lives there who loves his pain ?
Milton. 5. Hence, a subject of investigation, examination, or debate; theme of inquiry; matter to be inquired into; as,
a delicate or doubtful question.
6. Talk; conversation; speech; speech. [Obs.] Shak.
In question, in debate; in the course of examination or discussion; as, the matter or point in question.
— Leading question. See under Leading. — Out of question, unquestionably. "Out of question, 't
is Maria's hand." Shak. — Out of the question. See under Out. — Past question, beyond question; certainly; undoubtedly; unquestionably.
— Previous question, a question put to a parliamentary assembly upon the motion of a member, in
order to ascertain whether it is the will of the body to vote at once, without further debate, on the subject
under consideration. The form of the question is: "Shall the main question be now put?" If the vote is in
the affirmative, the matter before the body must be voted upon as it then stands, without further general
debate or the submission of new amendments. In the House of Representatives of the United States,
and generally in America, a negative decision operates to keep the business before the body as if the
motion had not been made; but in the English Parliament, it operates to postpone consideration for the
day, and until the subject may be again introduced. In American practice, the object of the motion is to
