quail
1 Americannoun
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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.
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Older Slang. a woman or girl.
verb (used without object)
noun
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any small Old World gallinaceous game bird of the genus Coturnix and related genera, having a rounded body and small tail: family Phasianidae (pheasants)
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any of various similar and related American birds, such as the bobwhite
verb
Synonym Usage
See wince 1.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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quailsimple
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quailssimple
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have quailedperfect
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has quailedperfect
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am quailingprogressive
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are quailingprogressive
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is quailingprogressive
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have been quailingperfect progressive
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has been quailingperfect progressive
Past
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quailedsimple
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had quailedperfect
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was quailingprogressive
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were quailingprogressive
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had been quailingperfect progressive
Future
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.
Vocabulary lists containing quail
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Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
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A Vocabulary Bestiary: Animals That Behave as Verbs
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The author is a freelancer and storyteller who lives in Glassell Park with her husband, two dogs and four quail.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 1, 2026
Next, a little deep-fried quail leg, crisp and savory, like a miniature Southern Colonel’s specialty or Bill Gorton’s riverside treat, paired with a sharp aioli.
From Salon ● Nov. 8, 2025
Ellen Dinsmoor is chief operating officer of Vow, a Sydney-based firm that sells cultivated Japanese quail products in Japan.
From BBC ● Jun. 24, 2025
Border Patrol vehicle, botanist Sula Vanderplank heard a quail in the scrub yelp “chi-ca-go,” a sound the birds use to signal they are separated from a mate or group.
From Seattle Times ● May 18, 2024
He never allowed any shooting near the house for fear the quail might go away.
From "The Red Pony" by John Steinbeck
Depre raises around 17,500 free-range hens and 70,000 quails in sheds with outdoor runs.
From Barron's ● Jun. 23, 2026
Here you can chase hummingbirds, roam through the never-crowded garden and “visit Stoneview’s resident quails, which have their own fenced-in compound called, ‘Quallywood,’” she says.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 6, 2026
The tinned dishes included typical Mediterranean ingredients, such as olives, tomatoes, quails and swordfish.
From Seattle Times ● May 11, 2024
Though scientists don’t fully understand these light-sensing receptors, one team identified certain brain cells in quails that could directly detect light, according to a study published in 2014 in Current Biology.
From Scientific American ● Apr. 20, 2023
They had so many kids following along behind them they looked like a covey of quails.
From "Summer of the Monkeys" by Wilson Rawls
My heart quailed at the idea of sharing a roof with her again, all of us swept up in the tornado vortex of her illness.
From Slate ● Mar. 14, 2022
Naturally Helberg quailed at the thought of taking on Jimmy Stewart’s iconic role?
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 15, 2018
Some of the starkest images of the extremism that gained ground in the 1930s as democracies quailed came from German artists themselves.
From The Guardian ● Mar. 4, 2017
No, wait: She quailed at confronting the Islamic State.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 27, 2016
His heart quailed before the enormous pyramidal shape.
From "1984" by George Orwell
It wasn’t so long ago that book publishers and bookstore owners were quailing about the coming of ebooks, like movie theater owners at the dawn of the television age.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 8, 2022
He has been a quailing, simpering paragon of mediocrity.
From Washington Post ● May 10, 2021
Instead, lawmakers, quailing at the union’s opposition, decided only that civilians may be included on the boards — which, in practice, is unlikely to happen.
From Washington Post ● Aug. 10, 2016
Whatever its other problems, the Reagan Administration showed no signs of quailing before that threat.
From Time Magazine Archive
Hermione added hastily, quailing under Harry’s furious stare.
From "Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire" by J. K. Rowling
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
