Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To repeat or copy (words from a source such as a book), usually with acknowledgment of the source.
  • intransitive verb To repeat or copy the words of (a person or a book or other source).
  • intransitive verb To cite or refer to for illustration or proof.
  • intransitive verb To repeat a brief passage or excerpt from.
  • intransitive verb To state (a price) for securities, goods, or services.
  • intransitive verb To give a quotation, as from a book.
  • noun A quotation.
  • noun A quotation mark.
  • noun Used by a speaker to indicate the beginning of a direct quotation.
  • noun A dictum; a saying.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A note upon an author.
  • noun A quotation, or the marking of a quotation.
  • noun A quotation-mark: usually in the plural.
  • noun A quotient.
  • To note down; set down in writing; hence, in general, to note; mark; observe.
  • To adduce from some author or speaker; cite, as a passage from some author or a saying of some speaker; name, repeat, or adduce as the utterance of some other person, or by way of authority or illustration; also, to cite the words of: as, to quote a passage from Homer; to quote Shakspere or one of his plays; to quote chapter and verse.
  • In writing or printing, to inclose within quotation-marks; distinguish as a quotation or as quoted matter by marking: as, the dialogue in old books is not quoted.
  • In com., to name, as the price of stocks, produce, etc.; name the current price of.
  • To cite the words of another; make a quotation.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To cite, as a passage from some author; to name, repeat, or adduce, as a passage from an author or speaker, by way of authority or illustration.
  • transitive verb To cite a passage from; to name as the authority for a statement or an opinion.
  • transitive verb (Com.) To name the current price of.
  • transitive verb obsolete To notice; to observe; to examine.
  • transitive verb obsolete To set down, as in writing.
  • noun obsolete A note upon an author.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb transitive To refer to (part of) a speech that has been made by someone else.
  • verb transitive To prepare a summary of work to be done and set a price.
  • verb Commerce (transitive) To name the current price, notably of a financial security.
  • verb intransitive To indicate verbally or by equivalent means the start of a quotation.
  • verb archaic To observe, to take account of.
  • noun A quotation, statement attributed to someone else.
  • noun A quotation mark.
  • noun A summary of work to be done with a set price.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a punctuation mark used to attribute the enclosed text to someone else
  • noun a passage or expression that is quoted or cited
  • verb name the price of
  • verb repeat a passage from
  • verb refer to for illustration or proof
  • verb put quote marks around

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English coten, to mark a book with numbers or marginal references, from Old French coter, from Medieval Latin quotāre, to number chapters, from Latin quotus, of what number, from quot, how many; see kwo- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Recorded since 1387 "to mark (a book) with chapter numbers or marginal references", from Old French coter, from Medieval Latin quotare "to distinguish by numbers, number chapters", itself from Latin quotus "which, what number (in sequence)," from quot "how many" (related to quis "who"). The sense developed via "to give as a reference, to cite as an authority" to "to copy out exact words" (since 1680); the business sense "to state the price of a commodity" (1866) revives the etymological meaning. The noun, in the sense of "quotation," is attested from 1885; see also usage note, below.

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Examples

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    I've information vegetable, animal and mineral

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    -Quote from Major General Song, The Pirates of Penzance

    July 28, 2009