quail

¹

[ kweyl ]

noun

, plural quails, (especially collectively) quail.

1. Also called true quail. any of numerous gallinaceous birds, order Galliformes, classified as either Old World quails, within the pheasant family (Phasinidae), especially the genus Coturnix, or the distantly related New World quails, comprising their own family (Odontophoridae), including the genera Colinus, Callipepla, and Odontophorus : among the most familiar true quails are the Old World king quail and the New World bobwhite.
2. button quail ( def ).
3. Older Slang. a woman or girl.

quail

²

[ kweyl ]

verb (used without object)

1. to lose heart or courage in difficulty or danger; shrink with fear.

   Synonyms: cower, blench, flinch, recoil

quail

¹

/ kweɪl /

noun

1. any small Old World gallinaceous game bird of the genus Coturnix and related genera, having a rounded body and small tail: family Phasianidae (pheasants)
2. any of various similar and related American birds, such as the bobwhite

quail

²

/ kweɪl /

verb

1. intr to shrink back with fear; cower

Other Words From

• quail·like adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of quail¹

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English quaille, quaylle, from Old French quaille, from Medieval Latin quaccola; imitative of its call

Origin of quail²

1400–50; late Middle English < Middle Dutch quelen, queilen

Word History and Origins

Origin of quail¹

C14: from Old French quaille, from Medieval Latin quaccula, probably of imitative origin

Origin of quail²

C15: perhaps from Old French quailler, from Latin coāgulāre to curdle

Synonym Study

See wince ¹.

Example Sentences

A celebration of the bounty of the Mid-Atlantic — look for quail with wild grapes — the Dabney occasionally incorporates truffles or foie gras into the menu, and “I couldn’t live without olive oil,” jokes the chef.

From Washington Post

“We expected to find learning evidence in the songbirds but not in the quail and penguins,” Colombelli-Négrel says.

From Science News

The scientists don’t know why the penguins and quail, which have their own calls genetically baked in, have the ability to distinguish their own species’ calls from those of other birds right from birth.

From Science News

That’s because penguins and quail are “vocal nonlearners” — birds thought to have calls that are genetically programmed from birth and not learned from a tutor.

From Science News

In other words, there’s a reason for this research being done and being done in this way that a photo of a quail snorting a line fails to capture.

From Washington Post

The sound of birds, quail, even doe, make a wild grid of noise.

From The Daily Beast

As a boy, he once said, he acquired the throwing skill that served him handsomely later by killing quail with rocks.

From The Daily Beast

Deer, dove, and quail hunting is a right of passage in the Lone Star state.

From The Daily Beast

Despite the lessons of the last four years, the banking sector in the U.K. is still too big to quail, let alone fail.

From The Daily Beast

We both love chasing quail and hunting deer in our beloved Texas.

From The Daily Beast

And the quail, perched on the fence-stake, would she address herself to us or to Mr. Robert White down in the meadow?

From Project Gutenberg

And he came a step still nearer; and now at last Mary began to dread, but still she did not quail.

From Project Gutenberg

A lugubrious quail doled forth a grating, dismal note at long but measured intervals, offending the ear and depressing the heart.

From Project Gutenberg

From the grass nine Indians arose, stooped, and scuttled off like a covey of running quail.

From Project Gutenberg

The whistle of the quail and the flutter of the perdiz, or pheasant, are heard on all sides in the rural and mountain regions.

From Project Gutenberg