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button quail

American

[buht-n kweyl] / ˈbʌt n ˌkweɪl /

Or buttonquail

noun

any of several small, drab, terrestrial birds of the family Turnicidae, with all but one species in the genus Turnix and well distributed in the grasslands of Africa, Asia, Australia, and Europe: named for their resemblance to Old World true quails, the button quails belong to a different order (Charadriiformes) and are distinct in having neither a hind toe nor a crop.

button quail British

noun

Also called: hemipode. any small quail-like terrestrial bird of the genus Turnix , such as T. sylvatica (striped button quail), occurring in tropical and subtropical regions of the Old World: family Turnicidae , order Gruiformes (cranes, rails, etc)

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of button quail

First recorded in 1880–85

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023