Both Uses of
quell
in
The Book Thief
- His words were slippery and small, quelled by the acid.
p. 198.3quelled = suppressed
- For example, the hammers were for smashing windows and the towel was to wrap them up, to quell the sound.
p. 483.3 *quell = suppress
Definitions:
-
(1)
(quell) suppress or stop completely
-
(2)
(meaning too rare to warrant focus) meaning too rare to warrant focus:
While quell still means to suppress or stop, in Shakespeare's time, it had a more violent connotation--often meaning to murder or to eliminate someone or something.