quail
Definition from Wiktionary, a free dictionary
Contents |
[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
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Singular |
Plural |
quail (plural quails)
- Any of various small game birds of the family Phasianidae or of the family Odontophoridae.
[edit] Derived terms
[edit] Translations
[edit] See also
[edit] Etymology 2
[edit] Verb
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Infinitive |
Third person singular |
Simple past |
Past participle |
Present participle |
to quail (third-person singular simple present quails, present participle quailing, simple past and past participle quailed)
- To shrink or waver; to become fearful or doubtful.
- 1949, George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four, p25
- His heart quailed before the enormous pyramidal shape.
- 1949, George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four, p25