quail

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“
This mother quail was my especial care and study.

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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.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (18)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (7)

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Examples (50)

  • The habitat also would benefit bobwhite quail, and such migratory birds as the grasshopper sparrow, Henslow sparrow, and upland sandpiper. —  Brandon Sun Online - Top Stories
  • I can't complain though … I was treated to a late dinner of grilled quail, along with red beans and rice. —  Kansas.com Blogs Master Site Feed
  • The first covey we got into was scaled quail, and on this cold, blustery January day they held as well as I've ever seen scalies hold.
  • It featured a quail, a rabbit and a big horned sheep, measured 15 inches by 21-1 / 2 inches and had never been folded. —  Antique News News!
  • We have coyote and wild turkey and since the wild turkey are not good for the quail, we're rooting for the coyotes. —  Latest Articles
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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

Used in the same contextWord Family

quail:   quailing
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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