Used to express a completed action that took place before another specific past action occurred.
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Weak, worn, starved, he had quailed at the dreadful sight, and was toppling head-foremost to the ground, swooning away.
From Under Fire by C. B. Cox
He saw himself pointed at, hissed at, degraded, by the very men who had quailed before his own reproofs; and scarcely, when he had bolted the door behind him, did he feel himself safe.
From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 08, No. 49, November, 1861 by Various
Those who had quailed before his wrath took ample revenge by bullying him upon every occasion.
From The History of Peru by Henry S. Beebe
"I can't say as I do," admitted the constable, after he had quailed a bit under the keen, straightforward stare of the ex-mariner's hard, gray eyes.
From The Skipper and the Skipped Being the Shore Log of Cap'n Aaron Sproul by Holman Day
The partitions and floorings are now thrown down, and torn up, and the apartments occupied for six years by the hero before whom kings, emperors, and popes had quailed, are now tenanted by cart-horses!
From The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction Volume 19, No. 549 (Supplementary number) by Various
