| 单词 | quail |
| 释义 | quail (once / 1141 pages) 1n 2v Smaller than the chicken and not as well known as the pigeon, quail is like the often-overlooked middle child of the ground-dwelling bird family. Quail can also mean to cringe in fear or pain. So if you are a quail, you might quail at the thought of quail-hunting season. Quail is a broad, catchall word; it can refer to any one of many small domestic game birds. So if you’re bragging about the quail you shot on a hunting trip to your uptight, bird-obsessed pals, they might demand to know if it was the Bobwhite quail, the Valley quail or the Scaled quail, to name just a few. If you use this word as a verb, it means to draw back in fear or pain. You might quail in fear at the sight of a playground bully. A good way to remember this verb meaning is to think of how the word chicken is also associated with fear. WORD FAMILYquail: quailed, quailing, quails USAGE EXAMPLESThe seasons for ruffed grouse, bobwhite quail and pheasant all end on Saturday. Washington Times(Dec 31, 2016) Occasionally, I’ll see a hedgehog on our property—Galveston, his name is—and there’s no shortage of deer and quail. The New Yorker(Dec 17, 2016) When characters quail in terror, their backbones turn concave. Washington Post(Dec 14, 2016) 1 1n small gallinaceous game birds Hypo|Hyper bobwhite, bobwhite quail, partridge a popular North American game bird; named for its call Old World quailsmall game bird with a rounded body and small tail California quail, Lofortyx californicusplump chunky bird of coastal California and Oregon Colinus virginianus, northern bobwhitea favorite game bird of eastern and central United States Coturnix communis, Coturnix coturnix, migratory quailthe typical Old World quail phasianid a kind of game bird in the family Phasianidae 2n flesh of quail; suitable for roasting or broiling if young; otherwise must be braised 2Hyper wildfowl flesh of any of a number of wild game birds suitable for food v draw back, as with fear or pain Syn|Hypo|Hyper cringe, flinch, funk, recoil, shrink, squinch, wince retract, shrink back pull away from a source of disgust or fear move move so as to change position, perform a nontranslational motion |
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