Used to describe actions that started in the past and continue into or have direct relevance to the present.
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Occupants of Manhattan's Empire State Building, world's tallest structure, have quailed many times at a brilliant bolt of lightning accompanied by an immediate clap of thunder.
From Time Magazine Archive
A lesser man might have quailed before the problem of making such a reckoning.
From Time Magazine Archive
A braver man than Vernon Dursley would have quailed under the furious look Hagrid now gave him; when Hagrid spoke, his every syllable trembled with rage.
From "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" by J.K. Rowling
She would have quailed in the same way if the armored bear had looked at her like that, because there was something not unlike Iorek in Will’s eyes, young as they were.
From "The Subtle Knife" by Philip Pullman
If Sam could have seen him and known the grief that his escape would bring, he might have quailed.
From "The Return of the King" by J.R.R. Tolkien
