quote
Noun pluralquotes
Pluralquotes
- 1
- 2
- 3A price stated in advance for work, goods, or services, or the current price offered for a financial security or commodity.
The builder sent over a detailed quote for the extension.
She gathered several quotes before choosing a contractor.
UsageYou get a quote for a job, or get quotes from several firms.
- 4To state the price at which one will do a job or supply something, or to state the current market price of a security or commodity.
The contractor quoted us three thousand dollars for the roof.
They asked the agency to quote a price for the campaign.
UsageTakes two objects, person first: they quoted me $5,000. Also quote a price for a job.
- 5A punctuation mark used to enclose direct speech or a quotation.
Add a quote at the start of the character's spoken line.
The editor noticed missing quotes around the dialogue.
UsageMostly plural: put a word in quotes.
Less common meanings
- 6Spoken to mark the point where a direct quotation begins.
She announced, quote, 'the deal is off,' and hung up the phone.
His exact words were, quote, we did everything we could.
UsageOften paired with unquote at the end, or said as quote, unquote.
Oppositeunquote
- 7To signal verbally, or by an equivalent means, the beginning of a quotation.
The mayor called the plan, and I quote, "a complete waste of public money," before walking out of the meeting.
Her teacher wrote, and I quote, "a pleasure to have in class," which made her parents laugh.
UsageMostly in the phrase and I quote, said just before the exact words.
- 8To observe something and take account of it.
But must our moderne Critticks envious eye Seeme thus to quote some grosse deformity?
1598, John Marston, “Satyre IV”Note
An Elizabethan meaning that modern readers easily misread. In Shakespeare's Hamlet (c. 1600), 'I had not quoted him' means the speaker had not watched the young man closely, not that he failed to repeat his words. John Marston and John Day use it the same way. It stays close to the word's origin in marking a book's passages with numbers or notes in the margin. Outside deliberate pastiche, use observe or note instead.
Showing meanings only.
Practice
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Origin
It comes from Middle English quoten or coten, meaning to mark a book with chapter numbers or margin references, from Old French coter and Medieval Latin quotāre ("to number chapters"), from Latin quotus ("what number in sequence"), related to quot ("how many") and quis ("who"). The meaning developed from giving a reference to copying out exact words (from 1680), and the business sense of stating a price revives the original number-related meaning.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 7 facts
- Quote comes from Middle English quoten or coten, meaning to mark a book with chapter numbers or marginal references. en.wiktionary.org
- The derivation runs through Old French coter and Medieval Latin quotāre, meaning to number chapters. en.wiktionary.org
- Quotāre derives from Latin quotus, meaning what number in sequence, related to quot and quis with the stated meanings. en.wiktionary.org
- The meaning developed through giving a reference to copying exact words. en.wiktionary.org
- The exact-words sense dates from 1680. en.wiktionary.org
- The price sense is attested before 1866: Babbage's The Exposition of 1851 uses 'quoting the prices'. This establishes an earlier attestation, not its first use. gutenberg.org
- The price sense returns to the word's original association with numbers. en.wiktionary.org