/ kwəʊˈteɪʃn; NAmE kwoʊ-/ noun
1.
(also quote ) [ C ] a group of words or a short piece of writing taken from a book, play, speech, etc. and repeated because it is interesting or useful :
The book began with a quotation from Goethe.
a dictionary of quotations
—see also misquotation
2.
[ U ] the act of repeating sth interesting or useful that another person has written or said :
The writer illustrates his point by quotation from a number of sources.
3.
[ C ] (also quote ) a statement of how much money a particular piece of work will cost
SYN estimate :
You need to get a written quotation before they start work.
4.
[ C ] ( finance ) a statement of the current value of goods or stocks :
the latest quotations from the Stock Exchange
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WORD ORIGIN
mid 16th cent. (denoting a marginal reference to a passage of text): from medieval Latin quotatio(n-) , from the verb quotare , from quot how many, or from medieval Latin quota .