Used to express actions, events, or states that have not yet occurred but are expected to happen.
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Gladstone, the truculent old man, will quail before the pointing finger of revenge.
From The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition Vol. 5 (of 25) by Robert Louis Stevenson
Bid them be brave;—they will be brave for you; bid them be cowards, and how noble soever they be, they will quail for you.
From Almost a Woman by Mary Wood-Allen
As an apothecary’s apprentice they would, but as a gentleman they will quail; and if they do not, their master will most certainly be civil, and give you all the information which he can.
From Japhet in Search of a Father by Frederick Marryat
The trader will quail Over ledgers unsquared—and accounts overdue: And his pen fain would tell all the sorrowful tale Which his heart, full of fear, has not courage to do!
From The Death of Saul and other Eisteddfod Prize Poems and Miscellaneous Verses by J. C. Manning
As an apothecary's apprentice they would, but as a gentleman they will quail; and if they do not, their master will most certainly be civil, and give you all the information which he can.
From Japhet, in Search of a Father by Frederick Marryat
