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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


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"Quail" Quotes from Famous Books



... there was the young man going selecting, and thinking England was little farther, seeing his wife and child were waving a year's good-bye from the platform. There were sportsmen going two hundred miles after quail and wallaby; and cars full of ladies returning to the wilds after their yearly or half-yearly tilt with society and fashion in Sydney; and there were the eight we are interested in, clustering around the door and two windows, smiling and waving ...
— Seven Little Australians • Ethel Sybil Turner
... flies. Nesting vultures would have built more carefully and been fully as fastidious. When the warrior reached the spot the rocks became alive with naked forms; they appeared from all sides as suddenly and silently as quail. ...
— When the West Was Young • Frederick R. Bechdolt
... which we had been toiling, we got upon a light tenacious and blistered soil, evidently subject to frequent overflow, and fields of polygonum junceum, amidst which, both the crested pigeon and the black quail were numerous. The drays and animals sank so deep in this, that we were obliged to make for the river, and keep upon its immediate banks. Still, with all the appearance of far-spread inundation, it continued ...
— Two Expeditions into the Interior of Southern Australia, Complete • Charles Sturt
... prompted the arising of certain jealousies, though I do my best to distribute myself fairly. I cannot as yet turn a heel but I have hopes. Some day I will make Daddy wear the things, when he puts on enormous boots and goes quail shooting, after we go South again. I shall select some day when he has been real mean to me, and be the blisters ...
— Sweetapple Cove • George van Schaick
... several other Particulars that lasted all the first Course. A Dish of Wild-fowl that came afterwards furnished Conversation for the rest of the Dinner, which concluded with a late Invention of Will's for improving the Quail-Pipe. ...
— The Spectator, Volumes 1, 2 and 3 - With Translations and Index for the Series • Joseph Addison and Richard Steele


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