quailn.
/kweɪl/, U.S. /kweɪl/ Frequently with unmarked plural.
I. A bird.
1. Any of various small short-tailed game birds of the Old World subfamily Perdicinae (family Phasianidae), esp. of the genera Coturnix and Perdicula, which resemble tiny partridges and typically have brown camouflaged plumage; esp. the widespread and migratory C. coturnix, which has a distinctive liquid call.Domestic quail usually belong to the species C. japonica, the Japanese quail, but this is indistinguishable from C. coturnix except by call, and is sometimes regarded as a subspecies of it.bush-, painted, pectoral, rain-, stubble-, swamp quail, etc.: see the first element.
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the world > animals > birds > order Galliformes (fowls) > family Phasianidae (pheasants, etc.) > [noun] > member of genus Coturnix (quail)
eddish-henc825
arrish-henOE
curlewa1340
quail1381
mountain partridge1728
mountain quail1846
stubble-quail1848
koreke1871
Mearns quail1903
1381 Diuersa Servicia in C. B. Hieatt & S. Butler Curye on Inglysch (1985) 68 Tak pertrichys rostyd and checonys & qualis rostyd.
c1400 (?c1380) Pearl 1085 (MED) I stod as stylle as dased quayle.
c1460 (a1449) J. Lydgate Minor Poems (1934) ii. 816 (MED) Geyn Phebus vprist syngen wyl the quaylle.
a1500 in R. H. Robbins Secular Lyrics 14th & 15th Cent. (1952) 220 (MED) Youre swete loue wyth blody naylys, Whyche fedyth mo lyce than quaylys.
1535 Bible (Coverdale) Exod. xvi. 13 At euen the quayles came vp.
1555 W. Waterman tr. J. Boemus Fardle of Facions i. v. 53 Quaill, and mallard, are not but for the richer sorte.
1601 W. Cornwallis Ess. II. lxvii. sig. Ll5v The fighting game of Quailes was Anthonies ouerthrowe.
1684 T. Otway Atheist i. 5 Do you despise your own Manna..and long after Quails?
1727 J. Thomson Summer 77 While the Quail clamours for his running Mate.
1770 J. Banks Endeavour Jrnl. (1962) II. 59 I made a small excursion in order to shoot anything I could meet with and found a large quantity of Quails, much resembling our English ones.
1774 O. Goldsmith Hist. Earth V. 212 The quail is by all known to be a bird of passage.
1853 S. Sidney Three Colonies (ed. 2) 245 As they rode along, ground pigeons, grass parroquets, and quails rose up in thousands.
1870 W. Morris Earthly Paradise: Pt. IV 296 Close within the long grass lies the quail.
1898 Earl of Suffolk et al. Encycl. Sport II. 170 Quails are not..often met with in England.
1922 A. Jekyll Kitchen Ess. 97 A fat Quail cooked and served inside a puff-pastry jacket, the legs just peeping out, should emerge moist but done to a turn.
1981 K. Thear in K. Thear & A. Fraser Compl. Bk. Raising Livestock & Poultry ii. 59/2 Quail are hardy, and for those who are only interested in keeping small numbers a small chicken house and run is adequate.
2003 Bird Keeper June 46/2 In the wild, a quail would use a small, well-concealed scrape in grassland for nesting.
2. English regional.† b. The spotted crake, Porzana porzana. Obsolete.
a. The corncrake, Crex crex.In quot. ?a1500 the sense is doubtful.
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the world > animals > birds > order Gruiformes > [noun] > family Rallidae (rail) > crex crex (corn-crake)
raila1450
quail?a1500
corncrakea1525
daker-hen1552
craker1698
corn-craker1703
landrail1766
crake1793
rye-crake1807
grass-drake1826
corn-rail1830
meadow crake1833
meadow gallinule1843
a1500 R. Henryson tr. Æsop Fables: Preaching of Swallow l. 1779 in Poems (1981) 69 The quailȝe craikand in the corne.
1881 S. Evans Evans's Leicestershire Words (new ed.) Quail, the land-rail or corn-crake.
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the world > animals > birds > order Gruiformes > [noun] > family Rallidae (rail) > member of genus Porzana
ortolan1666
sora1705
quail1768
swamp crakea1891
Laysan rail1893
1768 T. Pennant Brit. Zool. (new ed.) II. App. 504 Breeds in Lincolnshire, where it is known by the name of quail.
3. Any of various small or medium-sized, partridge-like game birds of the New World family Odontophoridae (formerly included in the family Phasianidae), typically having a crest or head plume and (in the male) bold markings on the head and throat. Now usually with distinguishing word.helmet-, Massena, Montezuma, mountain, scale-quail, etc.: see the first element.
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the world > animals > birds > order Galliformes (fowls) > family Phasianidae (pheasants, etc.) > [noun] > general or unspecified member
pheasantc1299
partridgec1300
quail1625
Lady Amherst's pheasant1844
1625 W. Morrell New Eng. 15 All, along the Maine: The Turtle, Eagle, Partridge, and the Quaile.
1701 C. Wooley Two Years Jrnl. N.-Y. 40 They have great store of wild-fowl, as Turkys, Heath-hens, Quails, Partridges, Pigeons.
1782 J. H. St. J. de Crèvecoeur Lett. from Amer. Farmer 29 I draw a great fund of pleasure from the quails which inhabit my farm.
1818 W. Cobbett Year's Resid. U.S.A. i. i. 68 Chickens..as big as American partridges (misnamed quails).
1840 Penny Cycl. XVII. 440 Ortyx Virginianus,..the Quail of the inhabitants of New England, the Partridge of the Pennsylvanians.
1861 G. F. Berkeley Eng. Sportsman xi. 185 A brace of what the Americans call quail.
1917 T. G. Pearson Birds of Amer. II. 1 With few exceptions our Quails welcome the extension of agriculture, and the added food supply in farmed areas results in an increase of their numbers.
1947 Democrat 27 Feb. 2/2 There is outspoken discontent among sportsmen..regarding the scarcity of quail this season.
1958 E. T. Gilliard Living Birds of World 116/2 Typical of the three species of the genus Lophortyx in the southwestern United States south to Mexico is the California quail.
1994 Outdoor Canada Mar. 36/3 Biologists also listen for the warbles of songbirds, the crowing of cock pheasants and the whistle of the male bobwhite quail.
4. Any of several small, quail-like Old World birds constituting the family Turnicidae and genus Turnix, related to the rails and having only three toes. Usually with distinguishing word. Cf. buttonquail n. at button n. Compounds 2a, hemipod n.
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the world > animals > birds > order Gruiformes > [noun] > member of family Turnicidae > genus Turnix (button-quail)
Turnix1819
quail1848
buttonquail1854
hemipod1862
bush-quail1893
1848 J. Gould Birds Austral. V. Pl. 87 Hemipodius velox..Little Quail, of the Colonists.
1893 H. A. Bryden Gun & Camera Southern Afr. 158 Tiny bush-quail (Turnix lepurana), dainty creatures, scarcely bigger than sparrows.
1961 O. L. Austin Birds of World 102/1 Fourteen of the bustard quails are united in the single genus Turnix.
1989 A. Aird 1990 Good Pub Guide 419 The garden has a thriving community of budgerigars, canaries, zebra finches, button quail.., rabbits and guinea pigs.
II. Extended uses.† 5. A courtesan. Also: a prostitute. Obsolete.An allusion to the supposed amorous disposition of the common quail.
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society > morality > moral evil > licentiousness > unchastity > prostitution > [noun] > a prostitute > courtesan
plover1304
pamphelet?a1513
nun?1518
courtesan1549
musk cat?1567
stallion?1578
maiden of joy1585
miniard1598
quail1609
guinea-hena1616
light horsea1627
lady of pleasure1652
lorette1865
oiran1871
1609 W. Shakespeare Troilus & Cressida v. i. 49 Her's Agamemnon,..one that loues quailes . View more context for this quotation
1694 P. A. Motteux Wks. F. Rabelais (1737) iv. Prol. 83 Several coated Quails, and lac'd Mutton.
1733 L. Theobald Wks. Shakespeare VII. 100 Here's a little Authority for my Suspicion of Shakespeare's Meaning: and I'll throw in a Testimony or Two from a Contemporary Poet with him, by whom Quail is metaphorically used for a Girl of the Game.
1840 Sun (N.Y.) 26 Feb. 2/6 An appropriate lecture on the white gentleman's perversity of taste and his penchant for ‘woolly-headed quails’.
6. U.S. slang. Originally among students: a girl, a young woman. Cf. chick n.1 3.Also San Quentin Quail [humorously after San Quentin Jail, the name of a prison in California] = jail-bait n. at jail n. Compounds 2.
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the world > people > person > young person > young woman > [noun]
daughterOE
maidenOE
young womanOE
mayc1175
burdc1225
maidc1275
wenchc1290
file1303
virginc1330
girla1375
damselc1380
young ladya1393
jilla1425
juvenclec1430
young person1438
domicellea1464
quean1488
trull1525
pulleta1533
Tib1533
kittyc1560
dell1567
gillian1573
nymph1584
winklota1586
frotion1587
yuffrouw1589
pigeon1592
tit1599
nannicock1600
muggle1608
gixy1611
infanta1611
dilla1627
tittiea1628
whimsy1631
ladykin1632
stammel1639
moggie1648
zitellaa1660
baggagea1668
miss1668
baby1684
burdie1718
demoiselle1720
queanie?1800
intombi1809
muchacha1811
jilt1816
titter1819
ragazza1827
gouge1828
craft1829
meisie1838
sheila1839
sixteenc1840
chica1843
femme1846
muffin1854
gel1857
quail1859
kitten1870
bud1880
fräulein1883
sub-debutante1887
sweet-and-twenty1887
flapper1888
jelly1889
queen1894
chick1899
pusher1902
bit of fluff1903
chicklet1905
twist and twirl1905
twist1906
head1913
sub-deb1916
tabby1916
mouse1917
tittie1918
chickie1919
wren1920
bim1922
nifty1923
quiff1923
wimp1923
bride1924
job1927
junior miss1927
hag1932
tab1932
sort1933
palone1934
brush1941
knitting1943
teenybopper1966
weeny-bopper1972
Valley Girl1982
1859 Yale Lit. Mag. 24 291 [The Freshman] heareth of ‘Quails’, he dresseth himself in fine linen, he seeketh to flirt with ye ‘quails’.
1904 Hartford (Connecticut) Courant 4 Oct. 1 Because she was hazed by the young women students at Wesleyan, one ‘quail’, as the boys call them, who was a freshman here last year did not return to Wesleyan this fall.
1939 Amer. Speech 14 240 San Quentin quail, girl below the age of consent.
1947 Time 6 Oct. 68/1 A less active sport is ‘piping the flock’, when Cal males watch Cal ‘quails’ preening in the sun on the steps of Wheeler Hall.
1988 J. Ellroy Big Nowhere xxi. 234 A long schtick about his loss of political faith, his rapacious womanizing with the Commie quail from Mal's surveillance pics, his long cross-country odyssey.
2001 Oregonian (Portland, Oregon) 3 Aug. 36 An unseen president is caught with San Quentin quail, and desperate damage control begins.
Compounds
C1. General attributive, objective, and parasynthetic. † quail-potage n. Obsolete† quail-surfeited adj. Obsolete
quail-bagger n. rare
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1879 Harper's Mag. Oct. 703/1 The..advice offered by a circle of quail-baggers and other by-standers.
quail-bagging n.
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1879 Harper's Mag. Oct. 703/2 The conclusion that a quail-bagging expedition was regarded as an event of considerable importance.
1989 Newsweek (Nexis) 9 Jan. 63 Last week Bush went on his annual quail-bagging spree at the 10,000-acre Beeville, Texas, spread.
quail basket n.
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1598 J. Florio Worlde of Wordes A quaile basket.
1906 Jrnl. Hellenic Stud. 26 p. xli An ape represented as a quail-catcher, holding a quail basket such as is used to-day and a lantern.
2003 Mercury (Austral.) (Nexis) 19 Nov. 37 Samantha Muir will explain Asian quail baskets, Thai prawn balls, blinis, duck confit wraps and more.
quail cage n.
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1537 J. Husee Let. 21 July in Lisle Papers (P.R.O.: SP 3/12) f. 10 The Quayl caige I delyuerd vnto Agnes Woddrouff.
1895 Chicago Sunday Tribune 31 Mar. 30/2 (heading) Some observations at the quail cage in Lincoln Park ‘Zoo’.
2004 Amer. Heritage (Electronic ed.) Feb. 33 Opposite the quail cage was an old smokehouse filled with white pigeons.
quail-feeding n.
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1820 T. Mitchell in tr. Aristophanes Comedies I. p. lxiii When a mania took place in Athens..for quail-feeding or philosophy.
1990 St. Louis (Missouri) Post-Dispatch (Nexis) 11 Dec. c2 One of its first projects was a quail-feeding program. Members bought corn for landowners who spread it around for quail during the cold winter of 1943.
quail fight n.
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1581 R. Mulcaster Positions xviii. 78 Cokfights and quailefightes.
1770 T. Smollett et al. tr. Voltaire Wks. XXV. 116 All the wars that men have since entered into, have only been cock and quail fights.
1855 Harper's Mag. Dec. 104/2 The King yawned when she sang, and interrupted her dancing by ordering a quail-fight.
1961 A. Hosain Sunlight on Broken Column i. xvi. 92 Those days are gone when Nawabs lost their fortunes in cock-fights and quail-fights.
2003 Ottawa Citizen (Nexis) 3 Aug. a1 Mr. Ophir set up a round-robin tournament of quail fights, using birds from a poultry farm in Vineland.
quail fighter n.
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1837 B. D. Walsh in tr. Aristophanes Acharnians in Comedies 24 The Athénians..were great cock-fighters and quail-fighters.
2000 News of World (Nexis) 7 May Cruel quail fighter nailed... A fiend behind the illegal, bloody ‘sport’ of quail-fighting has appeared in court.
quail fighting n.
ΚΠ
1678 J. Ray tr. F. Willughby Ornithol. 170 Ælian tells us, that of old time at Athens Quail-fightings were wont to be exhibited as shews.
1774 O. Goldsmith Hist. Earth V. 214 Quail-fighting was a favourite amusement among the Athenians.
1830 P. Dobell in Trav. Kamtchatka II. vi. 222 The most remarkable [sports in China] are quail-fighting, cricket-fighting, shuttle-cock played with the feet, and tumbling.
1998 S. Armitage All Points North (1999) 38 There's growing concern amongst animal rights campaigners amid increased evidence of quail fighting in the region.
quail net n.
ΚΠ
1538 in York Wills (1902) VI. 85 To Sir William Seman my quaile nett and my flight nett.
1845 R. Browning Eng. in Italy in Bells & Pomegranates No. VII: Dramatic Romances & Lyrics 55 The quick rustle-down of the quail-nets Which woke me before I could open my shutter.
2002 N.Y. Times (Nexis) 17 Mar. ii. 35/1 It presents an intensely personal description of a quail hunt: ‘At daybreak I took my quail net. I heard the quail call far off where the dense underbrush grows.’
quail pit n.
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the world > food and drink > farming > animal husbandry > keeping birds > poultry-keeping > [noun] > enclosure for poultry > place for other poultry
duckery1745
quail pit1773
quailery1843
tealery1890
teal-house1902
1773 F. Sydenham in tr. Plato Dial. II. 148 (note) A circle was drawn in the Quail-Pit, or Gaming-Room, within which Circle were set the Combatant-Birds.
1879 Mrs. A. G. F. E. James Indian Househ. Managem. 56 Quails..kept in your own quail~pit and well fed.
1906 Lincoln (Nebraska) Daily Evening News 16 Apr. 8/2 Quails are so pugnacious that those which..are to be reserved for use at table have to be kept in specially prepared quail pits until needed.
ΚΠ
1702 J. K. tr. F. Massialot Court & Country Cook 232 Another sort of Quail-potage is made with a brown Cullis.
1725 R. Bradley Chomel's Dictionaire Œconomique at Quail You may also have a Quail-Potage in the Form of an Oil.
quail shot n.
ΚΠ
1865 ‘M. Twain’ in N.Y. Saturday Press 18 Nov. 249/2 He got the frog out..and filled him full of quail-shot.
1898 A. Bierce In Midst of Life 331 You are not going to fill up a deer with quail-shot, are you?
1995 Omaha (Nebraska) World Herald (Nexis) 18 July 11 sf The 20-gauge had one round of quail shot in it.
ΚΠ
a1657 G. Daniel Trinarchodia: Henry V cxxv, in Poems (1878) IV. 132 And hang a Nose to Leekes, Quaile-Surfetted.
quail time n.
ΚΠ
1897 Outing 30 94/2 Ever since last quail-time I have been casting rather dubious glances at a certain old gun.
1998 San Antonio (Texas) Express-News (Nexis) 5 Nov. c10 Quail time has arrived in Texas, and it is a sure bet some of the plump birds are headed for the cooking pot.
quail trap n.
ΚΠ
1807 Salmagundi 1 Oct. 312 He was particularly adroit in making our quail-traps.
1933 L. Spier Yuman Tribes 72 A quail trap..was a basket-like contrivance of arrowweed propped on a split stick and baited with seed.
2003 News-Press (Fort Myers, Florida) (Nexis) 8 Oct. b1 Quail traps didn't work because wild hogs tore into them for the corn.
C2. † quail call n. Obsolete = quail-pipe n. 1.† quail-pigeon n. Obsolete rare a ground-dwelling Australian pigeon of the genus Petrophassa or Ocyphaps.Apparently only attested in dictionaries or glossaries.
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the world > food and drink > hunting > fowling > fowling equipment > [noun] > calls
quail-pipea1425
call1607
quail call1614
bird call1621
lark call1791
caller1845
yelper1884
turkey-yelper1895
1614 J. Saris Let. 17 Oct. in Voy. Japan (1900) App. A. 209 To his sonne..a boxe of all thinges as ar belonging to a faulconer, quayle calles, a mastife, a watter spaniell.
1822 D. Booth Analyt. Dict. Eng. Lang. 99 A Quailpipe or Quailcall.
1884 Encycl. Brit. XX. 147/1 In old days they were taken in England in a net, attracted thereto by means of a Quail call.
quail dove n. any of several ground-dwelling doves of the genera Geotrygon and Starnoenas, found chiefly in the forests of Central and South America and the Caribbean islands.
ΚΠ
1890 Cent. Dict. Quail-dove, an American pigeon of the genus Starnœnas. S. cyanocephalus is the blue-headed quail-dove, found in the West Indies and Florida.
1895 Yearbk. U.S. Dept. Agric. 1894 211 Among the birds [in southern Florida] may be mentioned the white-crowned pigeon, Zenaida dove, quail doves [etc.].
1953 E. R. Blake Birds Mexico 189 White-faced Quail-Doves are restricted to mountain ‘cloud-forests’.
1992 From Land Fall 10/2 As we walk we watch for two of Jamaica's 25 endemic bird species—the ring-tailed pigeon and crested quail dove.
quail-finch n. either of two very small, ground-dwelling African waxbills of the genus Ortygospiza, esp. O. atricollis, having white markings on the head and barred breast and flanks.
ΚΠ
1917 Jrnl. Afr. Soc. 16 304 Rarer members of this family [sc. waxbills] are the ‘Aurora Finches,’ the Vinaceous Waxbill, the Quail Finch, and the Spotted Firefinch, all most desirable cage-birds.
1957 G. R. McLachlan & R. Liversidge Roberts' Birds S. Afr. (rev. ed.) 452 Orange-breasted Waxbill... Rather like the Quail Finch but easily distinguished even in flight by the red rump of the male.
1998 Evolution 52 575/2 One indigobird species is associated with Amandava subflava goldbreast and another is associated with Ortygospiza atricollis quail-finch.
quail hawk n. New Zealand the New Zealand falcon, Falco novaezelandiae.
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the world > animals > birds > order Falconiformes (falcons, etc.) > [noun] > family Falconidae > genus Falco (falcon) > other types of
carrion-kite1581
chickenhawk?a1775
New Zealand falcon1781
shaheen1839
falconet1851
prairie falcon1858
Eleonora falcon1859
quail hawk1873
bush-hawk1882
longwing1964
1873 T. H. Potts in W. L. Buller Birds New Zealand 4 The Quail-Hawk exhibits great perseverance in pursuit of its prey.
1985 Reader's Digest Bk. N.Z. Birds 155 Karearea, sparrowhawk, bush hawk, quail hawk, [etc.].
ΚΠ
1886 Cassell's Encycl. Dict. V. ii Quail-pigeons, the genus Geophaps.
quail-snipe n. (a) U.S. regional a dowitcher (genus Limnodromus); †(b) a seed-snipe (family Thinocoridae); (obsolete rare).Sense (b) is apparently only attested in dictionaries or glossaries.
ΚΠ
1844 J. E. DeKay Zool. N.Y. II. 255 The Dowitchee, Red-breasted Snipe, Quail snipe, or Brown-back, arrives on the coast of New-York towards the latter part of April.
1886 Cassell's Encycl. Dict. V. ii Quail-snipes, the family Thinocoridæ.
1955 Amer. Speech 30 180 Quail snipe definitely refers to the plump body and ruddy breast of the dowitcher.
quail track n. U.S. (now rare) (a) (in plural) untidy, scribbled handwriting; (b) designating a type of corn or bean.
ΚΠ
1828 Norwalk (Ohio) Reporter 13 Dec. 2/5 It is no small tax upon our patience to decipher their quail tracks.
1855 Trans. Michigan Agric. Soc. 6 495 One acre of quail track corn planted on muck land.
1890 T. Greiner How to make Garden Pay 154 [Beans]. Horticultural, Speckled Cranberry or Quail Track.
1910 B. White Bk. Daniel Drew (1913) 6 Nobody on earth can read Uncle Dan Drew's quail tracks.
quail-thrush n. any of several ground-dwelling Australasian songbirds of the genus Cinclosoma, with a pale eyestripe and (in the male) black and white markings on the throat and breast.Now usually placed in their own family, Cinclosomidae, the quail-thrushes have in the past been placed in the families Orthonychidae and Timaliidae.
ΚΠ
1926 Official Checklist Birds Austral. (Royal Australasian Ornithol. Union) p.iv Some indefinite names like Ground-bird have been replaced by more appropriate names, such as Quail-thrush.
1962 J. Marshall Journey among Men 172 Next day Tom Moriarty took us to a part of his property where he said we could obtain the quail-thrush.
1994 J. Flegg Birds of Austral. 260 Spotted Quail-thrush Cinclosoma punctatum... Medium-large. As its name suggests, looking like a cross between a quail and a thrush.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2007; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
quailv.1
/kweɪl/, U.S. /kweɪl/ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > constitution of matter > density or solidity > state of being thick enough to retain form > give consistency to [verb (transitive)] > coagulate
thickc1000
runlOE
quaila1398
congealc1400
curd?a1425
thickenc1425
coagulec1550
clumper1562
curdle1585
clutter1601
quarl1607
coagulate1611
posseta1616
sam1615
concrete1635
earn1670
clotter1700
cotter1781
a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add.) f. 31v Þe moisture is todeled, & þe more boistous and erþy partyes þerof downward to þe erþe, þe whiche parties þe erþe takeþ wiþinne it self & renneþ & quayliþ hem by hete.
Promptorium Parvulorum (Harl. 221) 418 Qvaylyn, as mylke, and other lycowre, coagulo.
a1500 in A. Way Promptorium Parvulorum 418 (MED) To all potage put all maner of spyces to the sethynge, safe gynger, for he wol quayle the potage for certayne.
?1530 R. Bacon Bk. Beste Waters Artifycyalles sig. Cii v It dissolueth the mylke quayled in the brestes.
2. intransitive. To curdle, coagulate. Now rare (English regional in later use).
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > dairy produce > [verb (intransitive)] > curdle or become curdled
runeOE
loppera1300
curda1398
to run togethera1398
quaila1425
trout1483
lop1570
turn1577
quar1578
curdle1586
caille1601
to set together1608
set1736
whig1756
shill1876
clabber1880
a1425 (a1399) Forme of Cury (BL Add.) 170 in C. B. Hieatt & S. Butler Curye on Inglysch (1985) 136 Take flour of payndemayn and medle it with white of eyren..and do the batour þerto queyntlich, þurgh þy fyngours..And lat it a litul quayle so þat þer be hooles þerinne.
?c1425 Recipe in Coll. Ordinances Royal Househ. (Arun. 334) (1790) 453 At the first boyling, take hom off the fyre that they whaile noght.
a1450 in T. Austin Two 15th-cent. Cookery-bks. (1888) 27 (MED) Caste on whyte Wyne or Venegre, & make it quayle.
1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 676/2 I quayle, as mylke dothe, je quaillebotte.
1601 P. Holland tr. Pliny Hist. World II. 323 It is no better than poison, especially the first beestings, if it quaile and cruddle in the stomacke.
1758 J. Upton in E. Spenser Faerie Queen I. Gloss. at Quaile Quagliare, to quail or curdle as milk.
1854 A. E. Baker Gloss. Northants. Words II. 148 The weather is so hot, the milk won't boil without quailing.
1881 S. Evans Evans's Leicestershire Words (new ed.) Quail, to ‘turn’ or curdle; go flat or sour.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2007; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
quailv.2
/kweɪl/, U.S. /kweɪl/ I. Senses related to declining or impairing.
1. intransitive. Of a material (esp. living) thing: to decline from a natural or flourishing condition; to waste away; to fade, wither. Now Caribbean: (of a plant) to wilt.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > condition of matter > bad condition of matter > deteriorate in condition [verb (intransitive)] > lose freshness
wallowc888
falloweOE
fordwinec1000
foryellowc1220
fade13..
windlec1325
wanzec1400
witherc1400
unappair1426
quail?c1430
withera1500
quell1579
tainta1616
daver1621
welter1645
tarnish1678
?c1430 (c1400) J. Wyclif Eng. Wks. (1880) 228 Ȝif ony man techiþ oþer wise..he is proude, no þing kunnynge, but weilynge or languyshynge [L. languens] aboute questiouns & fiȝttynge of wordis.
c1450 J. Capgrave Life St. Katherine (Arun. 396) (1893) iv. 1775 Euery thyng..that maketh resistens Ageyn nature, ful soone wil it quayle [v.r. qualle].
?a1475 (?a1425) tr. R. Higden Polychron. (Harl. 2261) (1865) I. 81 (MED) There be men also of v cubites, whiche dye not, neither waile [a1387 J. Trevisa tr. eueleþ; L. languescunt].
1568 T. Howell Arbor of Amitie f. 3v Length of time, causeth man and beast to quaile.
1579 E. Spenser Shepheardes Cal. Nov. 91 The braunch once dead, the budde eke needes must quaile.
1602 J. Rhodes Answere Romish Rime sig. C4v Christ's word..that heauen and earth should quaile, Before his word one iote should faile.
1633 J. Ford Broken Heart iv. i. sig. H4 The stocke soone withering, want of sap Doth cause to quaile the budding grape.
a1796 S. Pegge Two Coll. Derbicisms (1896) 56 Quail, to grow ill.
1825 J. T. Brockett Gloss. North Country Words Quail, to fail, to fall sick, to faint.
1880 M. A. Courtney W. Cornwall Words in M. A. Courtney & T. Q. Couch Gloss. Words Cornwall (at cited word) Quail, to wither;..‘These flowers soon quail’.
1996 R. Allsopp Dict. Caribbean Eng. Usage (at cited word) You must allow the bush to quail before you boil it to make bush-tea.
2. Of an abstract thing (in later use influenced by sense 5a).† a. intransitive. Of an action, undertaking, state, etc.: (originally) to fail, break down, come to nothing; (in later use) to give way, yield to or before something. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > failure or lack of success > fail or be unsuccessful [verb (intransitive)] > collapse or come to nothing
forworthc1000
folda1250
quailc1450
fruster?a1513
to come to nothing1523
to give out?1523
to fall to the ground?1526
quealc1530
to come to, end in, vanish into, smoke1604
intercide1637
to fall to dirt1670
to go off1740
to fall through1770
to fall apart1833
collapse1838
to run into the sand (also, now less commonly, sands)1872
to blow up1934
to blow out1939
c1450 J. Capgrave Life St. Katherine (Arun. 396) (1893) iv. 1019 Whan moost nede is, his resons will quayll [v.r. whayle], Soo weel can oure mayden hir proporsyons rayll.
1523 in State Papers Henry VIII (1849) VI. 197 Thei fynally concludyd..ther shold lack 2 or 3 voyces, wherby the election shold quayle.
1570 B. Googe tr. T. Kirchmeyer Popish Kingdome ii. f. 23v They toyle & moyle least that his state, by talke of tongue should quaile.
1600 P. Holland tr. Livy Rom. Hist. v. xxi. 194 After great massaker and execution committed, the fight began to quaile.
1611 J. Speed Hist. Great Brit. ix. ix. 514/2 The Kings Ambassadors returne out of France, without hauing effected that which they went about, so that the whole enterprize quailed.
1723 C. Johnson Love in Forest ii. i. 21 Do this suddenly, And let no Search, no Inquisition quail.
1810 W. Scott Lady of Lake ii. 78 Roderick Dhu's renown..[should] quail to that of Malcolm Græme.
1857 F. D. Maurice Mediæval Philos. iv. §9. 117 The name of William himself quailed before that of Abelard.
b. intransitive. Of courage, †hope, †faith, etc.: to fail, give way, become faint or feeble. Now rare.After the 17th cent., tending to merge with sense 5a.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > manner of action > lack of violence, severity, or intensity > become less violent or severe [verb (intransitive)] > become weak
littleOE
faintc1450
weaken?1541
quail1557
quell1579
faltera1677
1557 R. Pole in J. Strype Eccl. Memorials (1721) III. App. lxviii. 246 The Faythe of the Sacraments began to quayle yn so many Hartes.
a1577 G. Gascoigne Hundred Flowers in Wks. (1869) I. 43 Since courage quayles, and commes behind, Go sleepe.
1606 L. Bryskett Disc. Ciuill Life 89 If..the hope began to quaile, forthwith courage failed withall.
1642 D. Rogers Naaman 408 I perceiue your zeale quales shrewdly in this Laodicean age.
1702 J. Sergeant Of Good Intentions xii. 263 How does he behave himself in such a juncture as would make an ordinary Man's Courage quail?
1799 Witch, & Maid of Honour I. 246 Such noises I hear at midnight as make my courage quail.
1835 C. Thirlwall Hist. Greece I. vi. 212 Perils, which make the courage of the hardiest quail.
1916 Times 15 June 10/3 I have never known his courage quail or his nerve give way.
1994 Press Enterprise (Riverside, Calif.) (Nexis) 23 Mar. b1 Justice and courage quail before the shrill voices of emotion and hysteria.
3. To spoil, impair; to overpower, destroy, put an end to.† a. transitive. With an action, state, quality, feeling, etc., as object. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > creation > destruction > destroy [verb (transitive)] > crush, stifle, or overwhelm (feelings, etc.)
shendOE
whelvec1000
allayOE
ofdrunkenc1175
quenchc1175
quashc1275
stanchc1315
quella1325
slockena1340
drenchc1374
vanquishc1380
stuffa1387
daunt?a1400
adauntc1400
to put downa1425
overwhelmc1425
overwhelvec1450
quatc1450
slockc1485
suppressa1500
suffocate1526
quealc1530
to trample under foot1530
repress1532
quail1533
suppress1537
infringe1543
revocate1547
whelm1553
queasom1561
knetcha1564
squench1577
restinguish1579
to keep down1581
trample1583
repel1592
accable1602
crush1610
to wrestle down?1611
chokea1616
stranglea1616
stifle1621
smother1632
overpower1646
resuppress1654
strangulate1665
instranglea1670
to choke back, down, in, out1690
to nip or crush in the bud1746
spiflicate1749
squasha1777
to get under1799
burke1835
to stamp out1851
to trample down1853
quelch1864
to sit upon ——1864
squelch1864
smash1865
garrotte1878
scotch1888
douse1916
to drive under1920
stomp1936
stultify1958
the world > action or operation > prosperity > success > mastery or superiority > have or gain mastery or superiority over [verb (transitive)] > overcome or overwhelm > completely or overthrow > specifically a thing
allayOE
vanquishc1380
breaka1400
quealc1530
quail1533
ruin1585
to wrestle down?1611
to take down1889
to beat down-
1533 T. More 2nd Pt. Confut. Tyndals Answere viii. p. cccclxi Yf he byleue saynt Austayn..than is his owne fonde imagynacyon quayled.
1551 R. Robinson in tr. T. More Vtopia Epist. sig. ✠vv Mine old good wil, and hartye affection towardes you is not..at all quayled and diminished.
1577 M. Hanmer tr. Bp. Eusebius in Aunc. Eccl. Hist. v. i. 76 Quaylinge the cherefullnes of others.
1628 T. Venner Baths of Bathe (1650) 350 The taking of cold drink doth suddenly quaile the heat.
1654 tr. M. Martini Bellum Tartaricum 5 Their antient..warlike Spirit, which the pleasures..of that Country had quailed and tamed.
b. transitive. With a thing as object. Also (occasionally) intransitive. Now Caribbean: to cause (a plant) to wilt.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > harm or detriment > cause or effect (harm) [verb (transitive)] > do harm or injury to > affect detrimentally
atterc885
hurtc1200
marc1225
appair1297
impair1297
spilla1300
emblemishc1384
endull1395
blemishc1430
depaira1460
depravea1533
deform1533
envenom1533
vitiate1534
quail1551
impeach1563
subvert1565
craze1573
taint1573
spoil1578
endamage1579
qualify1584
stain1584
crack1590
ravish1594
interess1598
invitiate1598
corrupt1602
venom1621
depauperate1623
detriment1623
flaw1623
embase1625
ungold1637
murder1644
refract1646
depress1647
addle1652
sweal1655
butcher1659
shade1813
mess1823
puckeroo1840
untone1861
blue1880
queer1884
dick1972
forgar-
the world > existence and causation > creation > destruction > destroy [verb (transitive)] > overthrow or overturn > evil, disease, etc.
profligate1542
quail1551
the world > existence and causation > creation > destruction > damage > damage or injure [verb (transitive)]
mareOE
shendOE
hinderc1000
amarOE
awemc1275
noyc1300
touchc1300
bleche1340
blemisha1375
spill1377
misdoa1387
grieve1390
damagea1400
despoil?a1400
matea1400
snapea1400
mankc1400
overthrowa1425
tamec1430
undermine1430
blunder1440
depaira1460
adommage?1473
endamage1477
prejudicec1487
fulyie1488
martyra1500
dyscrase?1504
corrupt1526
mangle1534
danger1538
destroy1542
spoil1563
ruinate1564
ruin1567
wrake1570
injury1579
bane1587
massacre1589
ravish1594
wrong1595
rifle1604
tainta1616
mutilea1618
to do violence toa1625
flaw1665
stun1676
quail1682
maul1694
moil1698
damnify1712
margullie1721
maul1782
buga1790
mux1806
queer1818
batter1840
puckeroo1840
rim-rack1841
pretty1868
garbage1899
savage1899
to do in1905
strafe1915
mash1924
blow1943
nuke1967
mung1969
1551 S. Gardiner Explic. Catholique Fayth f. 60 The truthe of that place hindreth and qualeth in maner all the booke.
1600 W. Shakespeare Midsummer Night's Dream v. i. 282 O fates..cut thread and thrumme, Quaile, crush, conclude, and quell. View more context for this quotation
1604 T. Wright Succinct Philos. Declar. Clymactericall Yeeres 11 Nature in the meane time is strengthened with good foods, and the humour either purged or quailed with phisicke.
1655 H. Vaughan Silex Scintillans (ed. 2) ii. Time's Book iv As some meek night-piece which day quails To candle light unveils.
1682 R. Boyle Contin. New Exper. Physico-mech.: 2nd Pt. 66 The Apricocks were flaccid or quailed as if they had been dry or withered.
1996 R. Allsopp Dict. Caribbean Eng. Usage (at cited word) You have to quail pieces of banana leaf to wrap the conkie in before boiling.
2003 Gleaner (Kingston, Jamaica) 14 Aug. a4/5 We showed our children how to quail the banana leaf over a real wood fire.
II. Senses relating to daunting or fearing.
4.
a. transitive. To frighten (a person) into submission; to daunt, intimidate; to cause to quail. Now rare (Irish English).
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > fear > quality of inspiring fear > quality of being intimidating > intimidate or bully [verb (transitive)]
awec1225
bashc1375
palla1393
argh1393
formengea1400
matea1400
boasta1522
quail1526
brag1551
appale1563
browbeat1581
adaw1590
overdare1590
dastard1593
strike1598
disdare1612
cowa1616
dare1619
daw1631
bounce1640
dastardize1645
intimidate1646
hector1664
out-hector1672
huff1674
bully1685
harass1788
bullyraga1790
major1829
haze1851
bullock1875
to push (someone) around1900
to put the frighteners in, on1958
psych1963
vibe1979
1526 W. Bonde Pylgrimage of Perfection iii. sig. PPiii Some power of the soule shall quayle and trouble them.
1569 A. Golding tr. N. Hemmingsen Postill f. 22v Paule was not quayled with the hugenesse of persecutions.
1643 W. Bridge Serm. Voluntiers Norwich 9 He is a stout man whom adversity doth not quaile.
1686 J. Gibbon Day Fatality 5 Great James..at whose Presence, all his Foes are quail'd.
1719 in T. D'Urfey Wit & Mirth III. 23 Your Roaring Boys who every one quails.
1791 J. Learmont Poems Pastoral 28 Some thrawn obstreperous chief to quail, Or help the weak.
1816 J. Wilson City of Plague iii. i. 49 As thunder quails Th' inferior creatures of the air and earth.
1833 M. Scott Tom Cringle's Log I. ii. 76 Splinter did not like it, I saw, and this quailed me.
1892 Ballymena Observer in Eng. Dial. Dict. The beatin quailed him.
b. transitive. To daunt, depress (the heart, courage, etc.) with fear; to cause dejection; to dispirit. Now chiefly poetic.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > suffering > dejection > make dejected [verb (transitive)]
drearya1300
discomfortc1325
batec1380
to cast downa1382
to throw downa1382
dullc1386
faintc1386
discomfita1425
discourage1436
sinkc1440
mischeera1450
discheerc1454
amatea1500
bedowa1522
damp1548
quail1548
dash1550
exanimate1552
afflict1561
dank1565
disanimate1565
sadden1565
languish1566
deject1581
dumpc1585
unheart1593
mope1596
chill1597
sour1600
disgallant1601
disheart1603
dishearten1606
fainten1620
depress1624
sullen1628
tristitiate1628
disliven1631
dampen1633
weigh1640
out-spirit1643
dispirit1647
flat1649
funeralize1654
hearta1658
disencourage1659
attrist1680
flatten1683
dismalizec1735
blue-devil1812
out-heart1845
downweigh1851
to get down1861
frigidize1868
languor1891
downcast1914
neg1987
the mind > emotion > fear > quality of inspiring fear > quality of being intimidating > intimidate or bully [verb (transitive)] > daunt (a person's) courage
cowardc1300
anarrowc1400
accowardize1480
accoward1481
daunton1535
quail1548
daunt1569
quay1590
disheart1603
dishearten1606
cravena1616
break1619
unsoula1634
unnerve1638
cowardize1648
daff1673
to put (a person) off his (also her) mettle1745
becoward1831
1548 N. Udall et al. tr. Erasmus Luke in Paraphr. New Test. Pref. f. xiv Terroures wherwith euen very manly stomakes also might haue been quayled.
1567 G. Turberville To Rayling Rout 26 My courage is not quailde by cruell Fo.
1600 P. Holland tr. Livy Rom. Hist. xcv. 1253 Ouerthrowes in warre and misfortunes..at sea, wherewith his heart was quailed.
1663 S. Butler Hudibras: First Pt. i. iii. 178 Am not I here to take thy part? Then what has quail'd thy stubborn heart?
1745 J. Thomson Tancred & Sigismunda i. iv. 13 All the rugged Task of Virtue quails The stoutest Heart of common Resolution.
1844 B. Disraeli Coningsby II. v. ii. 224 It..quailed the heart of Taper, crushed all the rising hopes.
1904 W. V. Moody Fire-bringer i. 29 Else shall man Suffer such woes.., And thou such punishment as quails the heart To think on.
2004 Charlotte (N. Carolina) Observer (Nexis) 23 May 8 m Some of their vacations would quail the hearts of lesser travelers.
5.
a. intransitive. Of the heart, spirit, eyes, etc.: to flinch, be cowed; to give way through fear, awe, etc. (before, away from, under a formidable person or thing).
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > fear > physical symptoms of fear > exhibit physical symptoms [verb (intransitive)] > cower or flinch
wondec897
shuna1000
blencha1250
cowerc1300
scunnerc1425
cringea1525
to play couch-quaila1529
quail1544
winch1605
dwindle1612
blank1642
shy1650
scringec1700
funk?1746
flinch1883
curl1913
1544 P. Betham tr. Purlilia Precepts War i. lv. sig. D.iv Yf we perceyue the stomakes of our enemyes to quayle and waxe faynte.
1554 Soueraigne Cordial sig. Aiv Let nothing cause thi hart to quail.
1563 2nd Tome Homelyes Repentance i. 531 Mennes hartes do quayle and faynte, yf they once perceaue that they trauayle in vayne.
1600 P. Holland tr. Livy Rom. Hist. xxxvi. ix. 924 Seeing many of the defendants..hurt and wounded, their hearts began to quaile.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Cymbeline (1623) v. vi. 149 Thy daughter, For whom my heart drops blood, and my false spirits Quaile to remember. View more context for this quotation
1784 R. Cumberland Carmelite ii. i. 23 When the red Cross darts terror from my shield, The coward's heart shall quail.
1837 W. Irving Adventures Capt. Bonneville II. 225 [They] felt their hearts quailing under their multiplied hardships.
1841 G. Borrow Zincali I. i. i. 26 Their sharp eyes quailed quickly before his savage glances.
1892 J. Tait Mind in Matter (ed. 3) 249 In Gethsemane, the brave spirit of Jesus quailed.
1957 E. Eager Magic by Lake 120 A weaker spirit might have quailed, or hid its head in the sand.
1970 J. Dickey Deliverance 111 My heart quailed away from the blast tamped into both barrels.
1999 Business Day (S. Africa) (Nexis) 22 Oct. 6 South African hearts, even as they quailed before Big Jonah in full flight, could not help a twinge of pleasure.
b. intransitive. Of a person: to lose heart, be discouraged; to give way through fear, awe, etc. (at, †to, before, away from a formidable person or thing).
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > fear > dismay > lose heart or be dismayed [verb (intransitive)]
mayc1380
bash1382
dismayc1390
darea1400
dreepc1430
discourage1524
quail1548
blank1642
despond1655
1548 N. Udall et al. tr. Erasmus Luke in Paraphr. New Test. v. f. lxxii Suche men shall no manier aduersitee cause for to quaile.
1555 Let. to Congregation Freewillers in J. Strype Eccl. Memorials (1721) III. App. xliii. 122 He made them this faithful Promise, to the Intent that they should not quaile.
1577 R. Holinshed Chron. II. 1840/2 The comming forward of these forces, caused the rebels..to quaile in courage.
1604 T. Wright Passions of Minde (new ed.) i. vi. 23 Braggers..vaunt much at the beginning, but quaile commonly in the middle of the fray.
1619 E. M. Bolton tr. Florus Rom. Hist. 334 All the lords quailing, and Appuleius tyrannizing.
a1694 J. Tillotson Wks. (1760) X. cxcix. 252 All our spiritual Enemies would quail before us.
a1783 H. Brooke Earl of Westmorland (1789) iii. ii. 134 And dost thou quail, and skulk behind thy people?
1813 Ld. Byron Giaour (ed. 7) 50 I have not quail'd to danger's brow.
1874 J. R. Green Short Hist. Eng. People iii. §5. 137 The Earl of Chester..who had risen in armed rebellion, quailed before the march of Hubert.
1931 Good Housek. (U.S. ed.) Dec. 59/2 Any little girl with eleven grimy pennies in her hand might well quail before him.
1949 L. R. Taylor Party Politics in Age of Caesar iii. 50 Even the most hardened modern party organizer would have quailed at the problem of getting out the Roman vote.
1963 J. Hitrec tr. I. Andríc Bosnian Chron. xxii. 338 It was Rotta who quailed away from the colonel as from a bleak and monolithic iceberg.
2001 Sci. Fiction Chron. July 25/1 I quailed somewhat when I got here.
Derivatives
ˈquailer n. rare a person who or thing which quails.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > fear > quality of inspiring fear > quality of being intimidating > [noun] > one who intimidates or bullies
dauntera1522
quailer1582
frapler1601
disheartener1645
browbeater1670
harrower1814
intimidator1857
ass-kicker1962
1582 R. Mulcaster 1st Pt. Elementarie xxv. 208 Quailer.
1599 E. Sandys Europæ Speculum (1632) 193 Avarice..the quailer of all manly executions.
1882 T. D. Sullivan Poems 141 Never a coward, a cringer or quailer,..Ever a hero, a soldier and sailor.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2007; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
<
n.1381
v.1a1398
v.2?c1430- well-freighted
- well-frequented
- well-freshed
- well-fruited
- well-furnished
- well-furnishedness
- well-furred
- well-gaited
- well-garnished
- well-geared
- well-girse
- well-girt
- well-given
- well-glebed
- well-glossed
- well-gloved
- well-god
- well-going
- well-got
- well-gotten
- well-governed
- well-governing
- well-government
- well-gowned
- well-graced