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fowl
[ foul ]
/ faʊl /
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noun, plural fowls, (especially collectively) fowl.
the domestic or barnyard hen or rooster; chicken. Compare domestic fowl.
any of several other, usually gallinaceous, birds that are barnyard, domesticated, or wild, as the duck, turkey, or pheasant.
(in market and household use) a full-grown domestic fowl for food purposes, as distinguished from a chicken or young fowl.
the flesh or meat of a domestic fowl.
any bird (used chiefly in combination): waterfowl; wildfowl.
verb (used without object)
to hunt or take wildfowl.
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Origin of fowl
First recorded before 900; Middle English foul, fuhel, Old English fugol, fugel; cognate with Old Saxon fugal, Gothic fugls, Old High German fogal (German Vogel ), from Germanic fuglaz, a possible dissimilation of unattested fluglaz, from the same root as fly2
WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH fowl
foul, fowlWords nearby fowl
foveate, foveola, foveolate, foveole, Fowey, fowl, fowl cholera, fowler, Fowler flap, Fowler's toad, Fowles
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use fowl in a sentence
British Dictionary definitions for fowl
fowl
/ (faʊl) /
noun
See domestic fowl
any other bird, esp any gallinaceous bird, that is used as food or hunted as gameSee also waterfowl, wildfowl
the flesh or meat of fowl, esp of chicken
an archaic word for any bird
verb
(intr) to hunt or snare wildfowl
Word Origin for fowl
Old English fugol; related to Old Frisian fugel, Old Norse fogl, Gothic fugls, Old High German fogal
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
Other Idioms and Phrases with fowl
fowl
see neither fish nor fowl.
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.