fowl

[ foul ]

/ faʊl /

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See synonyms for: fowl / fowling on Thesaurus.com

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, fowl

Words 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

The name of the restaurant demands she offer duck and peaches, and the combination of crisp-skinned fowl and juicy fruit is simple and satisfying.
2021 Fall Dining Guide|Tom Sietsema|October 6, 2021|Washington Post
Mid-Atlantic dishes, from fish to fowl, play large on the menu.
Seven new restaurants to try this fall|Evan Caplan|September 16, 2021|Washington Blade
Healthy birds housed within view of fellow fowl infected with a common pathogen mounted an immune response, despite not being infected themselves, researchers report online June 9 in Biology Letters.
The mere sight of illness may kick-start a canary’s immune system|Jonathan Lambert|June 8, 2021|Science News
She was born to be a helpmeet, to supply what the beasts of the field and the fowls of the air could not, in sorrow and pain.
Gaia, the Scientist - Issue 99: Universality|Hope Jahren|April 7, 2021|Nautilus

You’d know what time of year it is simply by the chef’s choice of meat and fowl.
A reopened Marcel’s reminds me that fine dining, especially now, is about more than food|Tom Sietsema|November 6, 2020|Washington Post
It is a multimillion-dollar business in which roughly 15 million fowl die a year.
The History of the Chicken: How This Humble Bird Saved Humanity|William O’Connor|December 27, 2014|DAILY BEAST
It all began, the consensus seems to be, with the red jungle fowl.
The History of the Chicken: How This Humble Bird Saved Humanity|William O’Connor|December 27, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Like all fowl, turkeys tend to go quiet when held upside down.
Confessions of a Turkey Killer|Tom Sykes|November 26, 2014|DAILY BEAST
They had planned dinners together every night and ate guinea fowl, duck and other “interesting” dishes.
Jeff Goldblum Says Justin Bieber Should Play Him in ‘Jurassic Park’ Reboot|Melissa Leon|March 8, 2014|DAILY BEAST
But it was her light dinner—typically a broth with vegetables and either chicken or guinea fowl—that Wheeler saw as key.
The Marie Antoinette Diet|Erin Cunningham|February 1, 2014|DAILY BEAST
He stirred the smoldering ashes till the broiled fowl began to sizzle afresh.
The Awakening and Selected Short Stories|Kate Chopin
Water-fowl that had not moved at the first alarm now sprang in myriads from reeds and sedges, and darkened the very air.
Hunting the Lions|R.M. Ballantyne
Chloride of Lime … bad smell … bad egg … white of egg … fowl … grain … flour … flour and water … milk fluid … milk.
Assimilative Memory|Marcus Dwight Larrowe (AKA Prof. A. Loisette)
The Chinese esteem it as a great delicacy and mix it with fowl and vegetables.
Tobacco; Its History, Varieties, Culture, Manufacture and Commerce|E. R. Billings.
The priests shall not eat of any thing that is dead of itself or caught by a beast, whether it be fowl or cattle.
The Bible, Douay-Rheims Version|Various

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.

fowl

Origin of fowl

WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH fowl

Words nearby fowl

Words related to fowl

How to use fowl in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for fowl

Word Origin for fowl

Other Idioms and Phrases with fowl