Library / English Dictionary

QUAIL

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Small gallinaceous game birds

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Hypernyms ("quail" is a kind of...):

phasianid (a kind of game bird in the family Phasianidae)

Meronyms (parts of "quail"):

quail (flesh of quail; suitable for roasting or broiling if young; otherwise must be braised)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "quail"):

bobwhite; bobwhite quail; partridge (a popular North American game bird; named for its call)

Old World quail (small game bird with a rounded body and small tail)

California quail; Lofortyx californicus (plump chunky bird of coastal California and Oregon)

Holonyms ("quail" is a member of...):

bevy (a flock of birds (especially when gathered close together on the ground))

Sense 2

Meaning:

Flesh of quail; suitable for roasting or broiling if young; otherwise must be braised

Classified under:

Nouns denoting foods and drinks

Hypernyms ("quail" is a kind of...):

wildfowl (flesh of any of a number of wild game birds suitable for food)

Domain category:

game bird (any bird (as grouse or pheasant) that is hunted for sport)

Holonyms ("quail" is a part of...):

quail (small gallinaceous game birds)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Draw back, as with fear or pain

Example:

she flinched when they showed the slaughtering of the calf

Synonyms:

cringe; flinch; funk; quail; recoil; shrink; squinch; wince

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "quail" is one way to...):

move (move so as to change position, perform a nontranslational motion)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "quail"):

retract; shrink back (pull away from a source of disgust or fear)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP

Credits

 Context examples: 

The cook quailed under it.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Superstition was with me at that moment; but it was not yet her hour for complete victory: my blood was still warm; the mood of the revolted slave was still bracing me with its bitter vigour; I had to stem a rapid rush of retrospective thought before I quailed to the dismal present.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

All along by the sedgy banks of the rivers long lines of pages led their masters' chargers down to water, while the knights themselves lounged in gayly-dressed groups about the doors of their pavilions, or rode out, with their falcons upon their wrists and their greyhounds behind them, in quest of quail or of leveret.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)