Advertisement
Advertisement
quail
1[ kweyl ]
noun
- Also called true quail. any of numerous gallinaceous birds, order Galliformes, classified as either Old World quails, within the pheasant family (Phasinidae), especially the genus Coturnix, or the distantly related New World quails, comprising their own family (Odontophoridae), including the genera Colinus, Callipepla, and Odontophorus : among the most familiar true quails are the Old World king quail and the New World bobwhite.
- Older Slang. a woman or girl.
quail
1/ kweɪl /
noun
- any small Old World gallinaceous game bird of the genus Coturnix and related genera, having a rounded body and small tail: family Phasianidae (pheasants)
- any of various similar and related American birds, such as the bobwhite
quail
2/ kweɪl /
verb
- intr to shrink back with fear; cower
Other Words From
- quail·like adjective
Word History and Origins
Origin of quail1
Origin of quail2
Word History and Origins
Origin of quail1
Origin of quail2
Synonym Study
Example Sentences
A celebration of the bounty of the Mid-Atlantic — look for quail with wild grapes — the Dabney occasionally incorporates truffles or foie gras into the menu, and “I couldn’t live without olive oil,” jokes the chef.
“We expected to find learning evidence in the songbirds but not in the quail and penguins,” Colombelli-Négrel says.
The scientists don’t know why the penguins and quail, which have their own calls genetically baked in, have the ability to distinguish their own species’ calls from those of other birds right from birth.
That’s because penguins and quail are “vocal nonlearners” — birds thought to have calls that are genetically programmed from birth and not learned from a tutor.
In other words, there’s a reason for this research being done and being done in this way that a photo of a quail snorting a line fails to capture.
The sound of birds, quail, even doe, make a wild grid of noise.
As a boy, he once said, he acquired the throwing skill that served him handsomely later by killing quail with rocks.
Deer, dove, and quail hunting is a right of passage in the Lone Star state.
Despite the lessons of the last four years, the banking sector in the U.K. is still too big to quail, let alone fail.
We both love chasing quail and hunting deer in our beloved Texas.
And the quail, perched on the fence-stake, would she address herself to us or to Mr. Robert White down in the meadow?
And he came a step still nearer; and now at last Mary began to dread, but still she did not quail.
A lugubrious quail doled forth a grating, dismal note at long but measured intervals, offending the ear and depressing the heart.
From the grass nine Indians arose, stooped, and scuttled off like a covey of running quail.
The whistle of the quail and the flutter of the perdiz, or pheasant, are heard on all sides in the rural and mountain regions.
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Browse