quiznoun/kwɪz/

• 1

  datedAn odd, puzzling or absurd person or thing.

  • I've always heard he was a quiz, says another, or a quoz, or some such word ; but I did not know he was such a book-worm.
  • I tell you I am going to the music shop. I trust to your honour. Lord Rawson, I know, will call me a fool for trusting to the honour of a quiz.
• 2

  datedOne who questions or interrogates; a prying person.

• 3

  A competition in the answering of questions.

  • We came second in the pub quiz.
  • Once all six friends are clear that the topic of Janet's story is a pub quiz, we launch into talk around this topic, combining factual information about quizzes we have participated in with fantasies about becoming a team ourselves.
• 4

  educationA school examination of less importance, or of greater brevity, than others given in the same course.

  • For many it is hard to envision a scenario where a student completes an online quiz (or test) without using their smartphone, tablet, or other device to look up the answers, or ‘share’ those answers with other students.

quizverb/kwɪz/

• 1

  archaicTo hoax; to chaff or mock with pretended seriousness of discourse; to make sport of, as by obscure questions.

  • he quizzed unmercifully all the men in the room—
  • 'Now, Puddock, back him up—encourage your man,' said Devereux, who took a perverse pleasure in joking; 'tell him to flay the lump, splat him, divide him, and cut him in two pieces—' It was a custom of the corps to quiz Puddock about his cookery […]
• 2

  archaicTo peer at; to eye suspiciously or mockingly.

• 3

  To question (someone) closely, to interrogate.

  • He quizzed the suspect for around half an hour.
  • This week members return to the chamber to quiz the government on the Zimbabwe election, teacher shortages, backlog of asylum applications and improving the system for dementia diagnosis.
• 4

  To instruct (someone) by means of a quiz.

• 5

  obsoleterareTo play with a quiz.