fowl

[ foul ]

See synonyms for fowl 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.

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

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use fowl in a sentence

Of fowls also of the air by sevens, the male and the female; to keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth.
The Story of Noah's Ark From the Bible’s Book of Genesis | The Daily Beast | March 24, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
Two ancient fowls were caught from the yard and dispatched out of sight.
Two Chickens, an Old Guitar, and a Group of Strangers: A Life-Changing Feast in Brazil | Annabel Langbein | November 29, 2013 | THE DAILY BEAST
All the fowls of the air dwelt upon his ruins, and all the beasts of the field were among his branches.
The Bible, Douay-Rheims Version | Various
The beasts of the field, and the fowls of heaven, in common with man, enjoy the benefits of an animal life.
The Ordinance of Covenanting | John Cunningham
Birds were chirping in the orchard trees, and there was the scarcely less pleasant sound of barn-door fowls near at hand.
David Fleming's Forgiveness | Margaret Murray Robertson

A couple of fowls, a rice-pudding, and a small chine, composed our dinner.
Travels through the South of France and the Interior of Provinces of Provence and Languedoc in the Years 1807 and 1808 | Lt-Col. Pinkney
Poultry of all kinds is in great plenty, and cheap: fowls, ducks, &c. about two shillings per couple.
Travels through the South of France and the Interior of Provinces of Provence and Languedoc in the Years 1807 and 1808 | Lt-Col. Pinkney

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 game: See 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

Origin of 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.

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