quail

Definition from Wiktionary, a free dictionary

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Quail

Wikipedia

[edit] English

[edit] Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈkweɪl/
•  Audio (US)^{help, file}
• Rhymes: -eɪl

[edit] Etymology 1

Middle English quaille, quayle "quail" from Old French quaille (Modern French caille "quail") from Mediaeval Latin quaccula, quaquila, of Germanic origin, from Frankish kwakkula "quail", from a Germanic conflation of Proto-Germanic *kwak- (“‘to shake, swing’”) from Proto-Indo-European *gwog- (“‘to shake, swing’”) and Proto-Germanic *hwahtalō (“‘a bird, quail’”) from Proto-Indo-European *kwokt- (“‘quail’”). Akin to Middle Dutch and Middle Low German quackele "quail" (Dutch kwakkel "quail"), Old High German quahtala, wahtala "quail" (German Wachtel "quail").

[edit] Noun

quail (plural quails)

1. Any of various small game birds of the family Phasianidae or of the family Odontophoridae.

[edit] Derived terms

• common quail

[edit] Translations

[edit] See also

• partridge

[edit] Etymology 2

Middle Dutch

[edit] Verb

to quail (third-person singular simple present quails, present participle quailing, simple past and past participle quailed)

1. To shrink or waver; to become fearful or doubtful.
   • 1949, George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four, p25

     His heart quailed before the enormous pyramidal shape.

[edit] Translations