quail

¹ American  

[kweyl] / kweɪl /

noun

plural

quails,

plural

quail

1. Also called true quail.  any of numerous gallinaceous birds, order Galliformes, classified as either Old World quails, within the pheasant family (Phasinidae), especially the genus Coturnix, or the distantly related New World quails, comprising their own family (Odontophoridae), including the genera Colinus, Callipepla, and Odontophorus : among the most familiar true quails are the Old World king quail and the New World bobwhite.

2. button quail.

3. Older Slang. a woman or girl.

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quail ² American  

[kweyl] / kweɪl /

verb (used without object)

1. to lose heart or courage in difficulty or danger; shrink with fear.

   Synonyms:

   cower, blench, flinch, recoil

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quail ¹ British  

/ kweɪl /

noun

1. any small Old World gallinaceous game bird of the genus Coturnix and related genera, having a rounded body and small tail: family Phasianidae (pheasants)

2. any of various similar and related American birds, such as the bobwhite

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quail ² British  

/ kweɪl /

verb

1. (intr) to shrink back with fear; cower

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Related Words

See wince ¹.

Other Word Forms

• quaillike adjective
• unquailing adjective

Etymology

Origin of quail¹

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English quaille, quaylle, from Old French quaille, from Medieval Latin quaccola; imitative of its call

Origin of quail²

1400–50; late Middle English < Middle Dutch quelen, queilen

Explanation

Smaller than the chicken and not as well known as the pigeon, quail is like the often-overlooked middle child of the ground-dwelling bird family. Quail can also mean to cringe in fear or pain. So if you are a quail, you might quail at the thought of quail-hunting season. Quail is a broad, catchall word; it can refer to any one of many small domestic game birds. So if you’re bragging about the quail you shot on a hunting trip to your uptight, bird-obsessed pals, they might demand to know if it was the Bobwhite quail, the Valley quail or the Scaled quail, to name just a few. If you use this word as a verb, it means to draw back in fear or pain. You might quail in fear at the sight of a playground bully. A good way to remember this verb meaning is to think of how the word chicken is also associated with fear.

Example Sentences

Another hunting trip gone awry earned Cheney embarrassing headlines in 2006 when he accidentally shot and wounded a member of the party with a round of birdshot while quail hunting on a Texas ranch.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 4, 2025

Ellen Dinsmoor is chief operating officer of Vow, a Sydney-based firm that sells cultivated Japanese quail products in Singapore.

From BBC • Jun. 24, 2025

Under the ticking clock, the chefs wrestle with dishes like tournedos aux morilles and quail with cherries.

From Salon • Dec. 25, 2024

"There's no reason that it will not work for all poultry operations, including turkeys, quail and ducks," Dridi said.

From Science Daily • May 14, 2024

As tested on quail and pheasants, it has proved to be about 40 to 50 times as toxic as DDT.

From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson