Online dictionaryOnline dictionary
Synonyms, antonyms, pronunciation

  Home 		English Dictionary      examples: 'day', 'get rid of', 'New York Bay'




Quail   /kweɪl/   Listen
noun
Quail  n.  
1.
(Zool.) Any gallinaceous bird belonging to Coturnix and several allied genera of the Old World, especially the common European quail (Coturnix communis), the rain quail (Coturnix Coromandelica) of India, the stubble quail (Coturnix pectoralis), and the Australian swamp quail (Synoicus australis).
2.
(Zool.) 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.
(Zool.) 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.)
Bustard quail (Zool.), a small Asiatic quail-like bird of the genus Turnix, as Turnix taigoor, a black-breasted species, and the hill bustard quail (Turnix ocellatus). See Turnix.
Button quail (Zool.), one of several small Asiatic species of Turnix, as Turnix 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 (Zool.), any one of several American ground pigeons belonging to Geotrygon and allied genera.
Quail hawk (Zool.), the New Zealand sparrow hawk (Hieracidea Novae-Hollandiae).
Quail pipe. See Quail call, above.
Quail snipe (Zool.), the dowitcher, or red-breasted snipe; called also robin snipe, and brown snipe.
Sea quail (Zool.), the turnstone. (Local, U. S.)


verb
Quail  v. t.  To cause to fail in spirit or power; to quell; to crush; to subdue. (Obs.)


Quail  v. i.  (past & past part. qualled; pres. part. qualling)  
1.
To die; to perish; hence, to wither; to fade. (Obs.)
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."
Synonyms: to cower; flinch; shrink; quake; tremble; blench; succumb; yield.


Quail  v. i.  To curdle; to coagulate, as milk. (Obs.)





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


Advanced search
     Find words:
Starting with
Ending with
Containing
Matching a pattern  

Synonyms
Antonyms
Quotes
Words linked to  

only single words


Share |
Add this dictionary
to your browser search bar




"Quail" Quotes from Famous Books



... in the full daytime, a tremendous pastoral deserted by men, sufficient to itself and existing only for its own beauty. Now it existed for a child. The human element had caused nature, as it were, to recede, to take the second place. A child, bending down to pick up a shot quail, then straightening up victoriously, held the vast panorama in submission, as if he had quietly given out the order, "Make me significant." And Rosamund, who had stolen away to meet the evening, was now only intent on knowing whether the shot bird ...
— In the Wilderness • Robert Hichens
... their knives, they cut a hill at a time, and stacked it in large shocks, that lined the field like rows of sentinels, guarding the gold of pumpkin and squash lying all around. While the shocks were drying, the squirrels, crows, and quail took possession, and fattened their sides ...
— Moths of the Limberlost • Gene Stratton-Porter
... before us during the coming week, for we must give a day to the partridges (never called "quail" in the South), and we have a fox-hunt or two in the mornings, and that old buck to look after whose tracks I showed you in the road; besides the ducks and turkeys which are waiting to be shot, and all the Christmas frolicking, from which the ...
— Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, Vol. 17, - No. 97, January, 1876 • Various
... make bold to tell you, lady, I care not so much as you may imagine for your affections, which I know you have sufficient principle to recall, and bestow upon the possessor of that fair hand, whoever he may be. Nay, look not so wrathful, for I know that which would make your proud look quail, and the heiress of Cecil rejoice that she could yet become the wife of ...
— The Buccaneer - A Tale • Mrs. S. C. Hall
... significantly at her and he saw again the nervous trembling of the lip, but her eye did not quail. This woman, with her strange mingling of timidity and courage, would certainly protect ...
— Before the Dawn - A Story of the Fall of Richmond • Joseph Alexander Altsheler


More quotes...


Copyright © 2025 Dictionary One.com