quidnunc

[ kwid-nuhngk ]

noun

1. a person who is eager to know the latest news and gossip; a gossip or busybody.

quidnunc

/ ˈkwɪdˌnʌŋk /

noun

1. a person eager to learn news and scandal; gossipmonger

Word History and Origins

Origin of quidnunc¹

First recorded in 1700–10, quidnunc is from Latin quid nunc “what now?”

Word History and Origins

Origin of quidnunc¹

C18: from Latin, literally: what now

Example Sentences

“Quid pro quo” can be found under “Q” in the dictionary proper, between “quidnunc” and “quids in.”

From The New Yorker

It was then sold in convenient pennyworths;—hence coffee-houses where wits, quidnuncs, and idlers resorted, were called “penny universities.”

From Project Gutenberg

We have not now to haggle with the quidnuncs over the less or more of Art permissible in a garden, but to fight out the question whether civilisation shall have any garden at all.

From Project Gutenberg

London had been bewildered, and its literary quidnuncs utterly puzzled, when such a story first came forth inscribed with an unknown name.

From Project Gutenberg

Alas! capricious fate that governs these things turned my sweet, unconscious Ellen to one forever on the alert for the appearance of this long-legged quidnunc.

From Project Gutenberg