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.
Meanings
(intransitive) To waste away; to fade, to wither.
(archaic, transitive) To daunt or frighten (someone).
But when he meant to quaile and shake the Orbe, / He was as ratling Thunder. c. 1606–1607 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii], page 365, column 2:
Death dvvels vvithin vs, and if gentle Peace / Diſcend not ſoone, our ſorrovves to ſurceaſe, / Latium (alreadie quaild) vvill be deſtroyd. 1594, Robert Garnier, translated by Thomas Kid [i.e., Thomas Kyd], Pompey the Great, His Faire Corneliaes Tragedie: […], London: […] [James Roberts] for Nicholas Ling, published 1595, →OCLC, act I, signature B, verso:
To tell the truth the prospect rather quailed him – wandering about in the gloomy corridors of a nunnery. 1978, Lawrence Durrell, Livia: or, Buried Alive: A Novel, London; Boston, Mass.: Faber and Faber; republished in The Avignon Quintet, London: Faber, published 1992, page 358
(intransitive) 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 away. 1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, “A Quarrel about an Heiress”, in Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC, page 183:
Mr. Utterson had already quailed at the name of Hyde; but when the stick was laid before him, he could doubt no longer: broken and battered as it was, he recognized it for one that he had himself presented many years before to Henry Jekyll. 1886 January 5, Robert Louis Stevenson, “The Carew Murder Case”, in Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., →OCLC, page 39:
The sun had shifted round, and the myriad windows of the Ministry of Truth, with the light no longer shining on them, looked grim as the loopholes of a fortress. His heart quailed before the enormous pyramidal shape. It was too strong, it could not be stormed. 1949 June 8, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], chapter 2, in Nineteen Eighty-Four: A Novel, London: Secker & Warburg, →OCLC; republished [Australia]: Project Gutenberg of Australia, August 2001, part 1, page 27:
His colleagues quailed when, in 1986, he first sat on the court as a brash 50-year-old whose experience had been mostly as a combative government lawyer: a justice who, in that sanctum of columns and deep judicial silence, was suddenly firing questions like grapeshot. 2016 February 20, “Obituary: Antonin Scalia: Always right”, in The Economist:
Stouter hearts than a woman's have quailed in this terrible winter. Yours is tender and trusting, and needs a stronger one to lean on; so I have come to you now, with an offer of marriage. 1904, Seymour S. Tibbals, The Puritans or The Captain of Plymouth: A Comic Opera in Three Acts, [Franklin, Oh.]: Seymour S. Tibbals, →OCLC, act II, scene i, page 13:
(intransitive) 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. 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto VIII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 14, page 108:
"Sir, if you think your name is shamed by me, we had better part," said Mrs. Trevelyan, rising from her chair, and confronting him with a look before which his own almost quailed. 1869 May, Anthony Trollope, “Hard Words”, in He Knew He Was Right, volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Strahan and Company, […], →OCLC, page 77:
And he commanded his soldiers […] to frighten them with fierce swords, but the hearts of the holy men did not quail, and they were unable to alter their words. 1928, E. A. Wallis Budge, transl., The Book of the Saints of the Ethiopian Church[:] A translation of the Ethiopic Synaxarium […] , volume 1, London: Cambridge University Press, page 220:
pl przestraszyć się (to shrink or waver; to become fearful or doubtful) · pl przestraszać się (to shrink or waver; to become fearful or doubtful) · el δειλιάζω (to shrink or waver; to become fearful or doubtful) · ka შეტოკება (to shrink or waver; to become fearful or doubtful) · ru пасова́ть (to shrink or waver; to become fearful or doubtful) · fi tutista (to shrink or waver; to become fearful or doubtful) · bg треперя (to shrink or waver; to become fearful or doubtful) · ga creathnaigh (to shrink or waver; to become fearful or doubtful) · mi tārure (to shrink or waver; to become fearful or doubtful) · ka შედრკომა (to shrink or waver; to become fearful or doubtful) · ru бздеть (to shrink or waver; to become fearful or doubtful) · sq trëmbem (to shrink or waver; to become fearful or doubtful) · ka შეშინება (to shrink or waver; to become fearful or doubtful) · mi tungehe (to shrink or waver; to become fearful or doubtful) · cs polekat se (to shrink or waver; to become fearful or doubtful) · ka შერხევა (to shrink or waver; to become fearful or doubtful) · cs ztratit odvahu (to shrink or waver; to become fearful or doubtful) · cs zaleknout se (to shrink or waver; to become fearful or doubtful) · ru тру́сить (to shrink or waver; to become fearful or doubtful) · nl terugdeinzen (to shrink or waver; to become fearful or doubtful) · bg свивам се от страх (to shrink or waver; to become fearful or doubtful) · ru робе́ть (to shrink or waver; to become fearful or doubtful) · ru дре́йфить (to shrink or waver; to become fearful or doubtful) · aln tutem (to shrink or waver; to become fearful or doubtful)
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.
Meanings
(countable, uncountable) 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. 1954, Wildlife Review, numbers 75-83, page 44:
(uncountable) The meat from this bird eaten as food.
(countable, obsolete, uncountable) A prostitute.
Her's Agamemnon, an honeſt fellow inough and one that loues quailes, but hee has not ſo much braine as eare-wax, […] c. 1602, William Shakespeare, The Famous Historie of Troylus and Cresseid. Excellently Expressing the Beginning of their Loues, with the Conceited Wooing of Pandarus, Prince of Licia, London: Imprinted by G[eorge] Eld for R[ichard] Bonian and H[enry] Walley, and are to be sold at the spred Eagle in Paules Church-yeard, ouer against the great North doore, published 1609, →OCLC, act V, scene 1:
ky бөдөнө (any of several small game birds) · mww ws (any of several small game birds) · eo koturno (any of several small game birds) · gl saltagrá (any of several small game birds) · tl kutipaw (any of several small game birds) · ta காடை (any of several small game birds) · fa وشم (any of several small game birds) · he שְֹלָו (any of several small game birds) · sw kware (any of several small game birds) · bn বটেরা (any of several small game birds) · pam pugu (any of several small game birds) · tl tiktiko (any of several small game birds) · ba бытбылдыҡ (any of several small game birds) · vi cun cút (any of several small game birds) · xmf ჭყორი (any of several small game birds) · ja ヨーロッパウズラ (any of several small game birds) · rif tazaršrešt (any of several small game birds) · wbk uba (any of several small game birds) · ba бүҙәнә (any of several small game birds) · tr bıldırcın eti (meat of said bird) · tr bıldırcın (any of several small game birds) · nv díłdánii (any of several small game birds) · ota بلدرجین (any of several small game birds) · sl prepelica (any of several small game birds) · lld caia (any of several small game birds) · cjm ꨥꩀ (any of several small game birds) · ug بودۇنە (any of several small game birds) · xal бөдн (any of several small game birds) · bg пъдпъдък (any of several small game birds) · sq shkurtëz (any of several small game birds) · yue 鵪鶉 /鹌鹑 (any of several small game birds) · el ορτύκι (any of several small game birds) · fi amerikanviiriäinen (any of several small game birds) · ang ersċhenn (any of several small game birds) · id puyuh (any of several small game birds) · os уӕрцц (any of several small game birds) · gl paspallar (any of several small game birds) · mww noog ws (any of several small game birds) · ar سَلْوَى (any of several small game birds) · sh препелица (any of several small game birds) · mi koreke (any of several small game birds) · vo kotur (any of several small game birds) · ajp سمان (any of several small game birds) · hu fürj (any of several small game birds) · wyi born-gin (any of several small game birds) · uz bedana (any of several small game birds) · nl kwakkel (any of several small game birds) · hsb pocpula (any of several small game birds) · sc trepotès (any of several small game birds) · ast parpagayera (any of several small game birds) · dng нанчун (any of several small game birds) · gl cadorna (any of several small game birds) · gd gearradh-gort (any of several small game birds) · tt бытбылдык (any of several small game birds) · tt бүдәнә (any of several small game birds) · ny chinzirí (any of several small game birds) · ja 鶉 (any of several small game birds) · sah хонуу куруппааскыта (any of several small game birds) · ms puyuh (any of several small game birds) · pox pipaną (any of several small game birds) · sc guàgliulu (any of several small game birds) · oc calha (any of several small game birds) · da vagtel (any of several small game birds) · sh prepelica (any of several small game birds) · fo vaktil (any of several small game birds) · te కౌజు పిట్ట (any of several small game birds) · sw tombo (any of several small game birds) · gl cantagrá (any of several small game birds) · sva შყა̈ჟუ̂ (any of several small game birds) · fa ورتیج (any of several small game birds) · ia qualia (any of several small game birds) · sc cricchibì (any of several small game birds) · sa वर्तीर (any of several small game birds) · br koailh (any of several small game birds) · ang edisċhenn (any of several small game birds) · pt codorniz (any of several small game birds) · ce лекъ (any of several small game birds) · pl przepiórka (any of several small game birds) · lzz ოტრიკე (any of several small game birds) · myv ёр (any of several small game birds) · pl przepiórka (meat of said bird) · ro prepeliță (any of several small game birds) · ml കാട (any of several small game birds) · lt putpelė (any of several small game birds) · mi whēwhī (any of several small game birds) · th นกกระทา (any of several small game birds) · mk потполошка (any of several small game birds) · fy kwartel (any of several small game birds) · my ငုံး (any of several small game birds) · ga gearg (any of several small game birds) · scn quagghia (any of several small game birds) · ca guatlla (any of several small game birds) · fa بلدرچین (any of several small game birds) · uk пе́репел (any of several small game birds) · kk бөдене (any of several small game birds) · ast cogorniz (any of several small game birds) · sv vaktel (any of several small game birds) · cv путене (any of several small game birds) · tg бедона (any of several small game birds) · bn কোয়েল (any of several small game birds) · bsh uřë (any of several small game birds) · rm quacra (any of several small game birds) · sq shkurtë (any of several small game birds) · as বঁটা চৰাই (any of several small game birds) · fr caille (any of several small game birds) · be перапелка (any of several small game birds) · es codorniz (any of several small game birds) · mn бөднө (any of several small game birds) · sk prepelica (any of several small game birds) · fur cuaie (any of several small game birds) · gl coalla (any of several small game birds) · cy sofliar (any of several small game birds) · dmw burrunjawurni (any of several small game birds) · twf hȕolóna (any of several small game birds) · ko 메추라기 (any of several small game birds) · ask uvřë (any of several small game birds) · gl paspallás (any of several small game birds) · sc cualla (any of several small game birds) · mt summiena (any of several small game birds) · ka მწყერი (any of several small game birds) · mi tāreke (any of several small game birds) · mi koitāreke (any of several small game birds) · apw hashbidí (any of several small game birds) · cmn 鵪鶉 /鹌鹑 (any of several small game birds) · it quaglia (any of several small game birds) · tl pugo (any of several small game birds) · et vutt (any of several small game birds) · yua beech' (any of several small game birds) · nl kwartel (any of several small game birds) · cs křepelka (any of several small game birds) · zza karek (any of several small game birds) · ru пе́репел (any of several small game birds) · fr caille des blés (any of several small game birds) · sa वर्तक (any of several small game birds) · cst sá̄kani (any of several small game birds) · arz سمان (any of several small game birds) · eu galeper (any of several small game birds) · dsb paśpula (any of several small game birds) · lmo quaja (any of several small game birds) · hi बटेर (any of several small game birds) · wyi kurra-ket (any of several small game birds) · gl cogorniza (any of several small game birds) · rom dropya (any of several small game birds) · chr ᎫᏇ (any of several small game birds) · vi cút (any of several small game birds) · ar سُمَّان (any of several small game birds) · as বঁটা (any of several small game birds) · zdj salwa (any of several small game birds) · grc ὄρτυξ (any of several small game birds) · km សត្វក្រួច (any of several small game birds) · gl codorna (any of several small game birds) · pnt ορτύκιν (any of several small game birds) · is kornhæna (any of several small game birds) · sc xrìcchibi (any of several small game birds) · sva შყეჟუ̂ (any of several small game birds) · mk препелица (any of several small game birds) · mwl paçpalhaç (any of several small game birds) · pt codorna (any of several small game birds) · wym bukfuruk (any of several small game birds) · rm quaiglia (any of several small game birds) · ckb ھەوێردە (any of several small game birds) · vec cuaja (any of several small game birds) · hi वर्तक (any of several small game birds) · fi viiriäinen (any of several small game birds) · oc catla (any of several small game birds) · tg вартиш (any of several small game birds) · lv paipala (any of several small game birds) · la coturnix (any of several small game birds) · de Wachtel (any of several small game birds) · pa ਬਟੇਰਾ (any of several small game birds) · kea katurnis (any of several small game birds) · war pugo (any of several small game birds) · no vaktel (any of several small game birds) · ood kakaicu (any of several small game birds) · tk bedene (any of several small game birds) · inc-oas বণ্টা (any of several small game birds) · az bildirçin (any of several small game birds) · wyi tre-bin (any of several small game birds) · hy լոր (any of several small game birds) · haw kēlū (any of several small game birds)
From Middle English quaylen, qwaylen, from Old French quaillier, coaillier, from Latin coāgulāre. Doublet of coagulate.
Meanings
(obsolete) 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. 1601, Pliny the Elder, translated by Philemon Holland, The Historie of the World: Commonly Called the Naturall Historie of C. Plinius Secundus; translated into English by Philemon Holland, London: Printed by Adam Islip, →OCLC: