Brewer's: Quaker

It appears from the Journal of George Fox, who was imprisoned for nearly twelve months in Derby, that the Quakers first obtained the appellation (1650) by which they are now known from the following circumstance:- “Justice Bennet, of Derby,” says Fox, “was the first to call us Quakers, because I bade him quake and tremble at the word of the Lord.” The system of the Quakers is laid down by Robert Barclay in fifteen theses, called Barclay's Apology, addressed to Charles II.

Quakers (that, like lanterns, bear Their light within them) will not swear.

Butler: Hudibras, ii. 2.

Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
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