Adjacent Words

Quail definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

QUAIL, v.i. [Quail, in English, signifies to sink or languish, to curdle, and to crush or quell.]
1. To sink into dejection; to languish; to fail in spirits. [Little used.]
2. To fade; to wither. Obs.
QUAIL, v.i.
To curdle; to coagulate; as milk.
QUAIL, v.t. To crush; to depress; to sink; to subdue. [This orthography is obsolete. The word is now written quell.]
QUAIL, n.
A bird of the genus Tetrao or grouse kind, or according to Latham's arrangement, of the genus Perdix, in which he comprehends the partridge and quail. In New England, the name is applied to a peculiar species of the perdix, which is called partridge in the middle states, but it is neither the partridge nor quail of Europe.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: flesh of quail; suitable for roasting or broiling if young; otherwise must be braised
2: small gallinaceous game birds v
1: draw back, as with fear or pain; "she flinched when they showed the slaughtering of the calf" [syn: flinch, squinch, funk, cringe, shrink, wince, recoil, quail]

Merriam Webster's

I. noun (plural quail or quails) Etymology: Middle English quaile, from Anglo-French, from Medieval Latin quaccula, of imitative origin Date: 14th century any of numerous small gallinaceous birds: as a. an Old World migratory game bird (Coturnix coturnix) b. bobwhite II. verb Etymology: Middle English, from Middle Dutch quelen Date: 15th century intransitive verb 1. a. chiefly dialect wither, decline b. to give way ; falter <his courage never quailed> 2. to recoil in dread or terror ; cower <the strongest quail before financial ruin — Samuel Butler †1902> transitive verb archaic to make fearful Synonyms: see recoil

Britannica Concise

Any of several species of short-tailed game birds (family Phasianidae), some with a head plume that is straight or curled forward. Species range from 5 to 13 in. (13-33 cm) long. Some of the 95 Old World species have leg spurs, but the 36 New World species never do. Quails prefer open country and brushy borders. The male may help incubate the 12 eggs. Quails mainly eat seeds and berries but also leaves, roots, and insects. The common quail (Coturnix coturnix) of Eurasia and Africa is the only migratory bird in the order Galliformes. Quails are generally smaller than partridges. See also bobwhite.

Oxford Reference Dictionary

1. n. (pl. same or quails) any small migratory bird of the genus Coturnix, with a short tail and allied to the partridge. Etymology: ME f. OF quaille f. med.L coacula (prob. imit.) 2. v.intr. flinch; be apprehensive with fear. Etymology: ME, of unkn. orig.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Quail Quail, v. i. [OF. coaillier, F. cailler, from L. coagulare. See Coagulate.] To curdle; to coagulate, as milk. [Obs.] --Holland.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Quail Quail, n. [OF. quaille, F. caille, LL. quaquila, qualia, qualea, of Dutch or German origin; cf. D. kwakkel, kwartel, OHG. wahtala, G. wachtel.] 1. (Zo["o]l.) Any gallinaceous bird belonging to Coturnix and several allied genera of the Old World, especially the common European quail (C. communis), the rain quail (C. Coromandelica) of India, the stubble quail (C. pectoralis), and the Australian swamp quail (Synoicus australis). 2. (Zo["o]l.) Any one of several American partridges belonging to Colinus, Callipepla, and allied genera, especially the bobwhite (called Virginia quail, and Maryland quail), and the California quail (Calipepla Californica). 3. (Zo["o]l.) Any one of numerous species of Turnix and allied genera, native of the Old World, as the Australian painted quail (Turnix varius). See Turnix. 4. A prostitute; -- so called because the quail was thought to be a very amorous bird.[Obs.] --Shak. Bustard quail (Zo["o]l.), a small Asiatic quail-like bird of the genus Turnix, as T. taigoor, a black-breasted species, and the hill bustard quail (T. ocellatus). See Turnix. Button quail (Zo["o]l.), one of several small Asiatic species of Turnix, as T. Sykesii, which is said to be the smallest game bird of India. Mountain quail. See under Mountain. Quail call, a call or pipe for alluring quails into a net or within range. Quail dove (Zo["o]l.), any one of several American ground pigeons belonging to Geotrygon and allied genera. Quail hawk (Zo["o]l.), the New Zealand sparrow hawk (Hieracidea Nov[ae]-Hollandi[ae]). Quail pipe. See Quail call, above. Quail snipe (Zo["o]l.), the dowitcher, or red-breasted snipe; -- called also robin snipe, and brown snipe. Sea quail (Zo["o]l.), the turnstone. [Local, U. S.]

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Quail Quail, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Qualled; p. pr. & vb. n. Qualling.] [AS. cwelan to die, perish; akin to cwalu violent death, D. kwaal pain, G. qual torment, OHG. quelan to suffer torment, Lith. gelti to hurt, gela pain. Cf. Quell.] 1. To die; to perish; hence, to wither; to fade. [Obs.] --Spenser. 2. To become quelled; to become cast down; to sink under trial or apprehension of danger; to lose the spirit and power of resistance; to lose heart; to give way; to shrink; to cower. The atheist power shall quail, and confess his fears. I. Taylor. Stouter hearts than a woman's have quailed in this terrible winter. --Longfellow. Syn: to cower; flinch; shrink; quake; tremble; blench; succumb; yield.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Quail Quail, v. t. [Cf. Quell.] To cause to fail in spirit or power; to quell; to crush; to subdue. [Obs.] --Spenser.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(quails, or quail, quails, quailing, quailed) 1. A quail is a type of small bird which is often shot and eaten. N-COUNT 2. If someone or something makes you quail, they make you feel very afraid, often so that you hesitate. (LITERARY) The very words make many of us quail... He told Naomi she was becoming just like Maya. Naomi quailed at the thought. VERB: V, V at n

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

kwal (selaw; ortugometra; Latin Coturnix vulgaris): A game bird of the family Coturnix, closely related to "partridges" (which see). Quail and partridges are near relatives, the partridge a little larger and of brighter color. Quail are like the gray, brown and tan of earth. Their plumage is cut and penciled by markings, and their flesh juicy and delicate food. Their habits are very similar. They nest on the ground and brood on from 12 to 20 eggs. The quail are more friendly birds and live in the open, brooding along roads and around fields. They have a longer, fuller wing than the partridge and can make stronger flight. In Palestine they were migratory. They are first mentioned in Ex 16:13: "And it came to pass at even, that the quails came up, and covered the camp: and in the morning the dew lay round about the camp." This describes a large flock in migration, so that they passed as a cloud. Nu 11:31-33: "And there went forth a wind from Yahweh, and brought quail from the sea, and let them fall by the camp, about a day's journey on this side, and a day's journey on the other side, round about the camp, and about two cubits above the face of the earth. And the people rose up all that day, and all the night, and all the next day, and gathered the quail: he that gathered least gathered ten homers: and they spread them all abroad for themselves round about the camp"; compare Ps 78:26-30:

"He caused the east wind to blow in the heavens;

And by his power he guided the south wind.

He rained flesh also upon them as the dust,

And winged birds as the sand of the seas:

And he let it fall in the midst of their camp,

Round about their habitations.

So they did eat, and were well filled;

And he gave them their own desire."

Again the birds are mentioned in migration. Those that fell around the camp and the bread that was sent from heaven are described in Ps 105:39-42. Commentators have had trouble with the above references. They cause the natural historian none--they are so in keeping with the location and the laws of Nature. First the Hebrew selaw means "to be fat." That would be precisely the condition of the quail after a winter of feeding in the South. The time was early spring, our April, and the quail were flocking from Africa and spreading in clouds--even to Europe. They were birds of earth, heavy feeders and of plump, full body. Migration was such an effort that when forced to cross a large body of water they always waited until the wind blew in the direction of their course, lest they tire and fall. Their average was about 16 birds to each nest. If half a brood escaped, they yet multiplied in such numbers as easily to form clouds in migration. Pliny writes of their coming into Italy in such numbers, and so exhausted with their long flight, that if they sighted a sailing vessel they settled upon it by hundreds and in such numbers as to sink it. Taking into consideration the diminutive vessels of that age and the myriads of birds, this does not appear incredible. Now compare these facts with the text. Israelites were encamped on the Sinai Peninsula. The birds were in migration. The quail followed the Red Sea until they reached the point of the peninsula where they selected the narrowest place, and when the wind was with them they crossed the water. Not far from the shore arose the smoke from the campfires of the Israelites. This bewildered them, and, weary from their journey, they began to settle in confused thousands over and around the camp. Then the Israelites arose and, with the ever-ready "throw sticks," killed a certain number for every soul of the camp and spread the bodies on the sand to dry, just as Herodotus (ii. 77) records that the Egyptians always had done (see Rawlinson, Herodotus, II, for an illustration of catching and drying quail). Nature and natural history can account for this incident, with no need to call in the miraculous.

Gene Stratton-Porter

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

v. n. Cower, shrink, flinch, faint, blench, droop, quake, tremble, be quelled, give way, lose courage, lose spirit, be cast down.

Foolish Dictionary

v. t., To shrink--a characteristic of the bird when ordered in a restaurant.

Moby Thesaurus

Cornish hen, avoid, blanch, blench, blink, boggle, broiler, caille, canard, caneton, capon, chapon, chicken, cower, cringe, crouch, damsel, demur, dindon, dodge, draw back, duck, duckling, evade, fade, faisan, fall back, falter, fight shy of, flinch, fowl, fryer, funk, gal, goose, grouse, guinea hen, hang back, hang off, have qualms, hesitate, hold off, jib, lass, lassie, maid, maiden, make bones about, miss, missy, oie, partridge, pause, pheasant, pigeon, pigeonneau, poulet, pull back, quiff, recoil, reel back, retreat, roaster, scruple, sheer off, shrink, shrink back, shy, shy at, sidestep, skulk, slink, sneak, squab, squinch, start, start aside, start back, stewing chicken, stick at, stickle, strain, swerve, turkey, turn aside, volaille, waver, weasel, weasel out, wild duck, wince