quail

== English == === Pronunciation === IPA(key): /kweɪl/, /ˈkweɪ.əl/ Rhymes: -eɪl Homophone: quale === Etymology 1 === From Middle English quaylen, from Middle Dutch queilen, quēlen, from Old Dutch *quelan, from Proto-West Germanic *kwelan, from Proto-Germanic *kwelaną (“to suffer”). Doublet of queal. ==== Alternative forms ==== (obsolete) queal, quele ==== Verb ==== quail (third-person singular simple present quails, present participle quailing, simple past and past participle quailed) (intransitive) To waste away; to fade, to wither. [from 15th c.] (transitive, now rare) To daunt or frighten (someone). [from 16th c.] 1978, Lawrence Durrell, Livia: or, Buried Alive: A Novel, London; Boston, Mass.: Faber and Faber, →ISBN; republished in The Avignon Quintet, London: Faber, published 1992, →ISBN, page 358: To tell the truth the prospect rather quailed him – wandering about in the gloomy corridors of a nunnery. (intransitive) To lose heart or courage; to be daunted or fearful. [from 16th c.] (intransitive) Of courage, faith, etc.: to slacken, to give way. [from 16th c.] ===== Derived terms ===== ===== Translations ===== === Etymology 2 === From Middle English quayle, quaile, quaille, from Anglo-Norman quaille, from Late Latin quaccola (“quail”). (prostitute): So called because the quail was thought to be a very amorous bird. ==== Noun ==== quail (countable and uncountable, plural quails or quail) Any of various small game birds of the genera Coturnix, Anurophasis or Perdicula in the Old World family Phasianidae or of the New World family Odontophoridae. (uncountable) The meat from this bird eaten as food. (obsolete) A prostitute. ===== Derived terms ===== ===== Descendants ===== → Bengali: কোয়েল ===== Translations ===== ==== See also ==== partridge bevy === Etymology 3 === From Middle English quaylen, qwaylen, from Old French quaillier, coaillier, from Latin coāgulāre. Doublet of coagulate. ==== Verb ==== quail (third-person singular simple present quails, present participle quailing, simple past and past participle quailed) (obsolete) To curdle or coagulate, as milk does. === Anagrams === quali