Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.

Definition: Quail |
QuailNoun1. (game bird) flesh of quail; suitable for roasting or broiling if young; otherwise must be braised. 2. Small gallinaceous game birds. Verb1. Draw back, as with fear. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "quail" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1380. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
19th Century Satire | V. t., To shrink--a characteristic of the bird when ordered in a restaurant. Source: Foolish Dictionary, 1904. |
Dream Interpretation | To see quails in your dream, is a very favorable omen, if they are alive; if dead, you will undergo serious ill luck. To shoot quail, foretells that ill feelings will be shown by you to your best friends. To eat them, signifies extravagance in your personal living. Source: Ten Thousand Dreams Interpreted .... |
Literature | Quail A bird, said to be very salacious, hence a prostitute or courtesan. "Here's Agamemnon, an honest fellow enough, and one that loves quails."- Shakespeare: Troilus and Cressida, v. 1. The Ilaid of Homer is based on the story that Agamemnon, being obliged to give up his mistress, took the mistress of Achilles to supply her place. This brought about a quarrel between Agamemnon and Achilles, and Achilles refused to have anything more to do with the siege of Troy. Source: Brewer's Dictionary. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Quail, Texas."
Synonyms: QuailSynonyms: cringe (v), flinch (v), funk (v), recoil (v), shrink (v), squinch (v), wince (v). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Cowardice | Verb: quail; (fear); be cowardly; Adjective:, be a coward; Noun: funk; cower,skulk, sneak; flinch, shy, fight shy, slink, turn tail; run away; (avoid); show, the white feather. |
Fear | Tremble, shake; shiver, shiver in one's shoes; shudder, flutter; shake like an aspen leaf, tremble like an aspen leaf, tremble all over; quake, quaver, quiver, quail. |
Size | Large as life; plump as a dumpling, plump as a partridge; fat as a pig, fat as a quail, fat as butter, fat as brawn, fat as bacon. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Quail |
| English words defined with "quail": bevy, Bustard quail ♦ Colin, Coturnix, Coturnix communis, Coturnix coturnix ♦ family Turnicidae ♦ genus Coturnix, genus Lofortyx, genus Oreortyx, genus Turnix ♦ Lofortyx ♦ migratory quail, mountain partridge, mountain quail ♦ Oreortyx, Oreortyx picta palmeri ♦ partridge, Pedionomus torquatus, plain wanderer, Plumed partridge ♦ Quail pipe, Quail snipe, Qualled, Qualling, Quayd ♦ Rain quail, Rasorial ♦ sparrow hawk, striped button quail ♦ Tetraonid, Turnicidae, Turnix, Turnix sylvatica ♦ Wood quail. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "quail": Grouse ♦ Sporting Seasons in England. (references) |
| Etymologies containing "quail": Turnix. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Movie/TV Titles | Quentin Quail (1946) The Crackpot Quail (1941) Quail Hunt (1935) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
Books | |||
Periodicals |
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Theater & Movies | |||
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
![]() | Four campgrounds in New Mexico Camps at stations Corral, Thorn, Guitar, and Quail Triangulation party of Wilbur Porter. Credit: Coast & Geodetic Survey Historical Image Collection. | ![]() | Scale quail perched on post in Eastern New Mexico ranch. Credit: Gary Kramer. |
![]() | Gamble quail in eastern New Mexico. Credit: Gary Kramer. | ![]() | Mike Davis a quail farmer holds a quail on the Manchester Farms near Camden, SC. Credit: USDA. |
![]() | Quail in one of the growing houses on the Manchester Farms near Camden, SC. Credit: USDA. | ![]() | Quail eggs from one of the hen houses on the Manchester Farms near Camden, SC. Credit: USDA. |
![]() | Joyce Watkins loads quail eggs onto a rack after cleaning and checking them. Credit: USDA. | ![]() | Brenda Tidwell gathers quail eggs and places them into trays. Credit: USDA. |
Quail on watch! He is sitting on a bush found at the Parashant National Monument. Credit: Lynn Chamberlain. | Quail. Lakeview District. Credit: Terry Spivey. | ||
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| Play | Caption |
| Quail call. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Title | Author | Quote |
Les Miserables | Hugo, Victor | The wall of the quail abrupt, confused, mingled with vapour, suddenly lost to sight, seemed like an escarpment of the infinite. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| "Quail" is generally used as a noun (common) -- approximately 68.82% of the time. "Quail" is used about 93 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (common) | 68.82% | 64 | 42,009 |
| Lexical Verb (base form) | 19.35% | 18 | 82,615 |
| Lexical Verb (infinitive) | 11.83% | 11 | 106,044 |
| Total | 100.00% | 93 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| The following table summarizes the usage of "quail" based on a population census conducted in the United States. Ranks and frequencies are based on all names reported and classified. |
| Name | Usage/Gender | Usage per 100 million Persons | Rank in USA |
| Quail | Last name | 400 | 21,309 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits. | |||
1. Quail, TX |
Expressions using "quail": bobwhite quail ♦ Bustard quail ♦ Button quail ♦ California quail ♦ fat as a quail ♦ Marsh quail ♦ Maryland quail ♦ Mearn's montezuma quail ♦ migratory quail ♦ mountain quail ♦ old World quail ♦ quail at ♦ quail brush ♦ quail bush ♦ quail call ♦ quail dove ♦ quail hawk ♦ Quail Heights ♦ quail pipe ♦ quail snipe ♦ Quail Valley ♦ rain quail ♦ sea quail ♦ striped button quail ♦ Virginia quail ♦ wood quail. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "quail": quail-call, quail-hunters, quail-hunting, quail-like, quail-pipe, quail-song. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day | Expression | Frequency per Day |
quail | 653 | quail hollow resort | 27 |
bob white quail | 118 | coturnix quail | 25 |
quail hunting | 117 | quail run | 25 |
quail eggs | 109 | botanical garden quail | 24 |
button quail | 87 | hill irvine quail | 23 |
raising quail | 77 | quail for sale | 23 |
quail picture | 64 | bob quail raising white | 23 |
quail unlimited | 62 | georgia quail hunting | 22 |
mall quail springs | 60 | baby quail | 22 |
quail hollow | 52 | texas quail hunting | 21 |
california quail | 42 | quail inn | 19 |
quail ridge | 40 | quail ridge golf course | 18 |
quail lodge | 39 | eggs hatching quail | 18 |
quail creek | 38 | california valley quail | 17 |
quail valley | 32 | mountain quail | 17 |
quail recipe | 31 | quail cage | 16 |
quail hill | 30 | quail creek golf course | 16 |
quail bird | 30 | quail incubator | 16 |
gamble quail | 29 | quail chick | 16 |
farm quail | 29 | lake quail | 15 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | Translations for "quail"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Albanian | trembem (dread, funk, get the wind up, give the willies), thëllëzë (beautiful girl, grouse, Partridge, pintail), shkurtë, mish thëllëze. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arabic | ذوى (consume, decay, flag, wilt, wither), ذبل (consume, etiolate, fade, flag, languish, sear, shell, shrivel, wilt, wither, wizen), جبن (cheese, funk), السمان طائر, السلوي طائر, إرتجف (chill, dither, jar, palpitate, quake, quaver, quiver, shake, shiver, shudder, tremble). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bavarian | wachtl. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bulgarian | студентка, свивам се от страх, трепвам (blench, flinch, jerk, start, twitch, wince), треперя от страх, вид яребица, отдръпвам се (back away, dodge, ease off, ebb, flow back, move away, move up, pull over, recoil, retire, shrink away, shrink back, stand aside, stand off, step aside), пъдпъдък (bob-white), потрепвам (flinch, flutter, thrill, tremble, whiffle), плаша се (be timid, flinch, scare, shy). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chinese | 鹌鹑 (quails), 鶉 , 鵪鶉 , 鵪 . (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Czech | třást se (dodder, quaver, quiver, shake, shiver, shudder, tremble, vibrate, wobble), ochabnout (become flabby, decline, decrease, fizzle out, flag, sag, slacken), křepelka, chvìt se (flutter, judder, pulsate, quake, quaver, quiver, shake, shudder, tingle, tremble, vibrate, waver). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Danish | underart af harlekintopvagtel (Mearn's montezuma quail, Montezuma quail). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dutch | kwartel. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Esperanto | koturno. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Farsi | پژمرده شدن (Droop, Languish, Miff), مردن (Decease, Demise, Dying, Expire, Passaway, Perish), لرزیدن (Dither, Dodder, Flicker, Quake, Quiver, Shake, Shiver, Shudder, Throb, Tremble, Trill, Vibrate), وشم , ترسیدن (Abhor, Bash, Scare), ازمیدان دررفتن , شانه خالی کردن (Weasel), دلمه شدن (Clabber, Clot, Curd, Curdle, Jell), بی اثربودن , بلدرچین , بدبده . (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Finnish | viiriäinen. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | caille. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | Wachtel. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greek | ορτύκι. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hebrew | שלו (his, own). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | fürj. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Indonesian | burung puyuh. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | quaglia. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Kanji | 鶉 . (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Katakana | うずら. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Korean | ""라기 (Bobwhite, quails). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Manx | quayl, failleil ayns spyrryd. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Maya | beech. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Norwegian | vaktel, bli redd. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Papago | kakaichu. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | ailquay vacilar (boggle, chop, crane, diddle, falter, flinch, fluctuate, hand back, hesitate, niddle-noddle, nutate, oscillate, pendulate, quiver, repose, shilly-shally, shuffle, stagger, sway, teeter, toddle, totter, tremble, vacillate, waver), titubear (blench, diddle, dodder, flinch, hesitate, nutate, reel, stagger, toddle, totter, waver), sentir desânimo, retrair-se, recuar (backpedal, blench, boggle, crawfish, flinch, flunk, indent, kick, off, recede, recoil, retire, retreat), intimidar-se, desanimar (chill, collapse, damp, deject, depress, despair, despond, discount, discourage, dishearten, dismay, dispirit, drench, flatten, throw cold water on, unman, unnerve), codorniz, codorna. (various references) tremura (cower, dither, falter, flicker, palpitate, quake, quaver, quiver, reel, ripple, rock, shake, shiver, shudder, thrill, throb, tremble, vibrate, waver, wobble), studentã (co-ed), prepeliţã, fi cuprins de fricã, a-l apuca tremur. (various references) струсить (cry craven), перепелка, перепел, дрогнуть (falter). (various references) khwiri. (various references) prepelica, obeshrabriti se (lose heart), klonuti (droop, flag, languish). (various references) chihuta. (various references) codorniz, acobardarse (be chicken, be frightened, cower, flinch, funk). (various references) vaktel, förlora modet. (various references) umudunu yitirmek, korkuya kapılmak (be possessed by fear, be seized with fear, be taken with fear, get the wind up), korkmak (be afraid, be afraid of, be appalled, be frightened, be scared of, dread, fear, flinch, funk, get a fright, get cold feet, have a fright, have cold feet, scare, show the white feather, shy, sweat blood, take fright), cesaretini kaybetmek (despond, lose heart, lose one's nerve, wilt), bıldırcın, ürkmek (balk at, be appalled, blench, boggle, dread, get a fright, have a fright, jump, lose one's nerve, scare, shy, start, startle, take fright, wince), ümitsizliğe kapılmak. (various references) куропатка, завагатися, перепел. (various references) lưới bẫy chim cun cút (quail-net). (various references) sofliar. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | coturnices, coturnicum, coturnix, ortigometra, ortygometra, ortygometran. (various references) |
| Middle Dutch | 1100-1500 | quelen. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "quail": quailed, quailing, quails. (additional references) | |
| |
"Quail" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Aquaglo, Aquil, Equanil, Equilia, qai, qail, Qaim, qal, qali, qawaali, Qianli, qoil, qrail, quaa, quadi, quae, quaeh, quael, quai, quaia, quaib, quaid, quaie, quaif, quaig, quaila, Quaile, quaille, quaim, quain, quaip, quais, quait, quaix, qual, Qualao, quald, quale, qualf, qualg, quali, qualia, qualie, qualif, qualk, Qualo, qualp, quani, quao, quari, quaril, Quarll, Quasim, quawl, queal, Queel, quegl, quei, Quenild, queol, quia, quiad, quial, quiar, quiaz, quiel, quij, quil, Quila, quilb, quild, quilf, Quilici, quilk, quiln, quilp, quim, quiol, quiwl, qulil, qumill, quol, quranic, quril, Quwait, Quwatli, squaill, uai. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "quail" (pronounced kwā"l) |
| 4 | k w ā" l | quale. |
| 3 | -w ā" l | wail, Wale, whale. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-i-l-q-u" | |
-1 letter: quai. | |
-2 letters: ail, qua. | |
-3 letters: ai, al, la, li. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-i-l-q-u" | |
+1 letter: quails, qualia. | |
+2 letters: alfaqui, aliquot, liquate, pasquil, quailed, quakily, qualify, quality, quillai, quinela, quintal, siliqua, squalid, squilla, tequila. | |
+3 letters: alfaquin, alfaquis, aliquant, aliquots, applique, aquarial, aquiline, calquing, equaling, equalise, equality, equalize, exequial, liquated, liquates, pasquils, quailing, quaintly, qualmier, qualmish, quantile, quartile, quaylike, queasily, quillaia, quillais, quillaja, quinelas, quinella, quiniela, quintals, requital, siliquae, siliquas, squillae, squillas, tequilas, tranquil. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Slideshow 7. Images: Photo Album 8. Sounds | 9. Quotations: Fiction 10. Usage Frequency 11. Names: Frequency 12. Cities | 13. Expressions 14. Expressions: Internet 15. Translations: Modern 16. Translations: Ancient | 17. Derivations 18. Rhymes 19. Anagrams 20. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.