• (RP, America) IPA: /kwɛl/

From Middle English quellen, from Old English cwellan, from Proto-West Germanic *kwalljan, from Proto-Germanic *kwaljaną.

quell (quells, present participle quelling; simple past and past participle quelled)

1. (transitive) To subdue, put down, or silence (someone or something); to force (someone) to submit. [from 10th c.]
   • 1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter 1, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC ↗:

     The nation obeyed the call, rallied round the sovereign, and enabled him to quell the disaffected minority.

   • 1858 October 15, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “The Courtship of Miles Standish”, in The Courtship of Miles Standish, and Other Poems, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, →OCLC ↗:

     Northward marching to quell the sudden revolt.

2. (transitive) To suppress, to put an end to (something); to extinguish. [from 14th c.]

   to quell grief

   to quell the tumult of the soul

3. (obsolete, transitive) To kill. [9th]
   • 1625, Yvo of Narbena, Matthew Paris, “Part of an Epistle Written by One Yvo of Narbena vnto the Archbishop of Burdeaux, Containing the Confession of an Englishman, as Touching the Barbarous Demeanour of the Tartars, which had Liued Long among Them, and was Drawne along Perforce with Them in Their Expedition against Hungarie: Recorded by Matthew Paris in the Year [of] Our Lord 1243”, in [Samuel] Purchas, Purchas His Pilgrimes. […], 3rd part, London: […] William Stansby for Henrie Fetherstone, […], →OCLC ↗, 1st book, pages 63–64 ↗:

     Like barbarous miſcreants, they quelled Virgins vnto death, […]

   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book V”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC ↗:

     Well prov'd in that same day, when Jove those gyants quelled.

4. (obsolete, intransitive) To be subdued or abated; to diminish. [16th]
   • 1579, Immeritô [pseudonym; Edmund Spenser], The Shepheardes Calender: […], London: […] Iohn Wolfe for Iohn Harrison the yonger, […], →OCLC ↗:

     Winter's wrath begins to quell.

5. To die.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book VII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC ↗:

     Yet he did quake and quaver, like to quell.

quell (plural quells)

1. A subduing.
   • 1903, Knowledge: A Monthly Record of Science:

     The quell of the rebellion raised Justinian to the acme of power.

   • 2013, Suzanne Collins, Catching Fire, UK: Scholastic:

     But to make things even worse, this is the year of the Seventy-fifth Hunger Games, and that means it's also a Quarter Quell. They occur every twenty-five years, marking the anniversary of the districts' defeat with over-the-top celebrations and, for extra fun, some miserable twist for the tributes.

• French: réprimer
• German: unterdrücken
• Italian: reprimere, sedare
• Portuguese: sedar
• Russian: подавля́ть
• Spanish: subyugar, reprimir

• German: auslöschen, beenden
• Russian: успока́ивать

From Middle English *quelle (suggested by the verb quellen ("to well up; gush forth")), from Old English cwylla, *cwielle ("spring; source"), from Proto-West Germanic *kwalljā.

quell (plural quells)

1. A source, especially a spring.
2. An emotion or sensation which rises suddenly.