Meaning

noun an examination consisting of a few short questions

verb examine someone's knowledge of something

originAttested since the 1780s, of unknown origin. * The Century Dictionary suggests it was originally applied to a popular toy, from a dialectal variant of whiz. * The Random House Dictionary suggests the original sense was "odd person" (circa 1780). * Others suggest the meaning "hoax" was original (1796), shifting to the meaning "interrogate" (1847) under the influence of question and inquisitive. *…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0