/kweɪl/, /ˈkweɪ.əl/
OriginFrom 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.
- intransitiveTo waste away; to fade, to wither.
- archaic, transitiveTo daunt or frighten (someone).
“Death dvvels vvithin vs, and if gentle Peace / Diſcend not ſoone, our ſorrovves to ſurceaſe, / Latium (alreadie quaild) vvill be deſtroyd.”
“But when he meant to quaile and shake the Orbe, / He was as ratling Thunder.”
“To tell the truth the prospect rather quailed him – wandering about in the gloomy corridors of a nunnery.”
- intransitiveTo lose heart or courage; to be daunted or fearful.
“Though George had stopped in his sentence, yet, his blood being up, he was not to be cowed by all the generations of Osborne; rallying instantly, he replied to the bullying look of his father, with an”
“Mr. Utterson had already quailed at the name of Hyde; but when the stick was laid before him, he could doubt no longer: broken and battered as it was, he recognized it for one that he had himself pres”
“Stouter hearts than a woman's have quailed in this terrible winter. Yours is tender and trusting, and needs a stronger one to lean on; so I have come to you now, with an offer of marriage.”
- intransitiveOf courage, faith, etc.: to slacken, to give way.
“Therewith his ſturdie corage ſoone was quayd, / And all his ſences were with ſuddein dread diſmayd.”
“"Sir, if you think your name is shamed by me, we had better part," said Mrs. Trevelyan, rising from her chair, and confronting him with a look before which his own almost quailed.”
“And he commanded his soldiers […] to frighten them with fierce swords, but the hearts of the holy men did not quail, and they were unable to alter their words.”
- obsoleteTo curdle or coagulate, as milk does.
“[Laser is given] to such as haue supped off and drunk quailed milke, that is cluttered within their stomack.”
- countable, uncountableAny 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.
“Quail require little water, so there is no point to putting in a guzzler if there is any permanent water within travel range.”
- uncountableThe meat from this bird eaten as food.
- countable, obsolete, uncountableA prostitute.
“Her's Agamemnon, an honeſt fellow inough and one that loues quailes, but hee has not ſo much braine as eare-wax, […]”
- A surname from Scottish Gaelic.
Formsquails(present, singular, third-person) · quailing(participle, present) · quailed(participle, past) · quailed(past) · queal(alternative) · quele(alternative) · quails(plural) · quail(plural)