king quail

[ king-kweyl ]

noun

a brightly colored true quail, Coturnix chinensis (or Excalfactoria chinensis) of southern Asia and Australia, the smallest of the true quails, widely kept as a cage bird: the king quail is sometimes referred to as a button quail, but the button quails are very distant relatives and are not true quails.

Origin of king quail

¹

First recorded in 1840–45

Also called blue-breast·ed quail, Chi·nese paint·ed quail .

Words Nearby king quail

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

How to use king quail in a sentence

Of Australian quail there are at least a dozen varieties, ranging from a small partridge down to the little king quail.
Australian Pictures | Howard Willoughby

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