fowl

American  

[foul] / faʊl /

noun

PLURAL

fowls

PLURAL

fowl

1. the domestic or barnyard hen or rooster; chicken.

2. any of several other, usually gallinaceous, birds that are barnyard, domesticated, or wild, as the duck, turkey, or pheasant.

3. (in market and household use) a full-grown domestic fowl for food purposes, as distinguished from a chicken or young fowl.

4. the flesh or meat of a domestic fowl.

5. any bird (used chiefly in combination).

   waterfowl; wildfowl.

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verb (used without object)

1. to hunt or take wildfowl.

fowl British  

/ faʊl /

noun

1. See domestic fowl

2. any other bird, esp any gallinaceous bird, that is used as food or hunted as game See also waterfowl wildfowl

3. the flesh or meat of fowl, esp of chicken

4. an archaic word for any bird

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verb

1. (intr) to hunt or snare wildfowl

fowl Idioms  

1. see neither fish nor fowl.

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Etymology

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 fly ² ( def. )

Example Sentences

An arrow was sticking out of the fowl, who was resting against a fence.

From Washington Times

The British monarch’s annual “swan upping” — a census of the fowl along a stretch of the River Thames — found a worrisome drop in cygnets from last year.

From New York Times

It’s the part of the code that deals with “animals and fowls.”

From Los Angeles Times

“During the founding era, Americans typically owned muskets for militia service and fowling pieces to hunt birds and control vermin,” the brief said.

From New York Times

The pilfered fowl were quickly dispatched, plucked clean and hacked into quarters with a sharp sword.

From Washington Post

Related Words

• chicken
• goose
• hen
• pheasant