Quail
AI In plain words
Writing a short explanation…
Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.
quail¹
- /kweɪl/
- /ˈkweɪ.əl/
Sounds like quale · Rhymes with -eɪl
Where it comes from
From 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.
verb quails · quailing · quailed · queal · quele
- To waste away; to fade, to wither.
- To 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.
- To 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 another so indicative of resolution and defiance, that the elder man quailed in his turn, and looked a
- Of courage, faith, etc.: to slacken, to give way. Therewith his ſturdie corage ſoone was quayd, / And all his ſences were with ſuddein dread diſmayd.
quail²
- /kweɪl/
- /ˈkweɪ.əl/
Sounds like quale · Rhymes with -eɪl
Where it comes from
From Middle English quayle, quaile, quaille, from Anglo-Norman quaille, from Late Latin quaccola (“quail”).
(prostitute): So called because the quail was thought to be a very amorous bird.
noun quails · quail
- Any 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.
- The meat from this bird eaten as food.
- A prostitute. Her's Agamemnon, an honeſt fellow inough and one that loues quailes, but hee has not ſo much braine as eare-wax, […]
quail³
- /kweɪl/
- /ˈkweɪ.əl/
Sounds like quale · Rhymes with -eɪl
Where it comes from
From Middle English quaylen, qwaylen, from Old French quaillier, coaillier, from Latin coāgulāre. Doublet of coagulate.
verb quails · quailing · quailed
- To 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.
Quail⁴
Where it comes from
From a Manx form of McPhail. Also an English nickname from the quail bird.
proper noun
- A surname from Scottish Gaelic.
