Definition

1. Noun:

   • A small, short-tailed game bird: A quail is a small, ground-nesting bird in the pheasant family, often hunted for sport or food.
   • The meat of this bird: Quail also refers to the flesh of this bird, considered a delicacy.

2. Verb:

   • To feel or show fear; to flinch or cower: To quail means to draw back in fear, terror, or dread.

Examples

• Noun:

  • We heard the call of a quail in the field.
  • For dinner, we had roasted quail with herbs.

• Verb:

  • Even experienced soldiers may quail at the sight of such destruction.
  • She did not quail before her critics and defended her ideas bravely.

Advanced Usage

• "to quail at the thought of": to feel frightened or apprehensive about something imagined.
  • He quailed at the thought of giving a speech to a thousand people.

Variants and Related Words

• Quali (n): An alternative, less common spelling for the bird.
• Quailing (adj): The act of showing fear. (e.g., )

Synonyms

• Noun: game bird, partridge (Note: partridge is a different but related bird).
• Verb: cower, flinch, recoil, shrink, blench.

Related Phrases

• To make someone quail: to cause someone to feel fear.
  • The general's stern gaze was enough to make the recruits quail.

Idioms

• None that feature the verb 'quail' as a standalone, core component. (Common idioms like "quail in one's boots" are variations of "quake in one's boots").

Noun

1. small gallinaceous game birds
2. flesh of quail; suitable for roasting or broiling if young; otherwise must be braised

Verb

1. draw back, as with fear or pain
   • she flinched when they showed the slaughtering of the calf