quail

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Observations showed no negative effects and the quail were active and healthy throughout the 5-day test period and 3-day recovery phase.

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Definitions (31)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (3)

  1. noun Any of various Old World chickenlike birds of the genus Coturnix, especially C. coturnix, small in size and having mottled brown plumage and a short tail.
  2. noun Any of various similar or related New World birds, such as the bobwhite.
  3. intransitive verb To shrink back in fear; cower.

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Examples

  • The fields during the quail season are filled with so-called sportsmen to such an extent that one has every chance of being mistaken for a quail, and potted accordingly. —  Sketches From My Life
  • "Scattered like flushed quail-but unlike quail, they aren't regathering," Lord Kyndreth replied. —  Elvenborn
  • Observations showed no negative effects and the quail were active and healthy throughout the 5-day test period and 3-day recovery phase. —  Chapter 15
  • He must be broiled, split open neatly and well larded with good butter, for not so juicy even as the quail is the ruffed grouse, and he must have aid. —  A Man and a Woman
  • Romantics, on the other hand, say they hope the quail was an example of "If you build a prairie, wildlife will come." —  dispatch.com: RSS
 

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Quail has been looked up 544 times, favorited 0 times, listed 31 times, and commented on 3 times.

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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

partridge ·  pigeon ·  woodcock ·  cuckoo ·  swan ·  grouse ·  peacock ·  turkey ·  blackbird ·  dove ·  sparrow ·  ptarmigan
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (5)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. Middle English quaille, from Old French, perhaps from Vulgar Latin *coacula, of imitative origin.
  2. Middle English quailen, to give way, probably from Middle Dutch quelen, to suffer, be ill; see gwelə- in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (3)

  1. Early modern English and dial. also queal; from Middle English quelen (preterit qual), from Anglo-Saxon cwelan (preterit cwæl, past participle cwolen), die (also in comp. ā-cwelan, die utterly), = Old Saxon quelan, die, = Middle Dutch quelen = Middle Low German quelen, suffer pain, pine, = Old High German quelan, quelen, chelen, Middle High German queln, die, German quälen, suffer pain; cf. Anglo-Saxon cwalu, destruction, Middle English quale, murrain (see quale), and Anglo-Saxon cwellan, cause to die, kill, quell: see quell, which is the causative form of quail, and cf. qualm, from the same source.
  2. from Middle English quaylen, qualen, from Old French coailler, French cailler = Spanish cuajar = Portuguese coalhar = Italian quagliare, cagliare, from Latin coagulare, curdle, coagulate: see coagulate.
  3. Early modern English also quayle, Scots quailzie; from Middle English quaille, quayle, qwayle, from Old French quaille, French caille = Provencal calha = Old Spanish coalla = Italian quaglia, from Middle Latin quaquila, also quaquara, quaquadra, quisquila (also, after Old French, etc., qualia), from Middle Dutch quakele, quackel, Dutch kwakkel (Middle Dutch also quartel, Dutch kwartel) = Middle Low German quackele, Low German quackel, a quail; so called in reference to its cry, from Middle Dutch quacken, Dutch kwaken = Middle Low German quaken, quack: see quack.
 

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/kweɪl/
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