quail

Meanings

Verb

• To waste away; to fade, to wither
• To daunt or frighten (someone)
• To lose heart or courage; to be daunted or fearful.
• Of courage, faith, etc.: to slacken, to give way.
• To curdle or coagulate, as milk does.

Noun

• 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.
• The meat from this bird eaten as food.
• A prostitute, so called because the quail was thought to be a very amorous bird.

Origin

• From Middle English quaylen, from Middle Dutch queilen, quēlen, from Old Dutch *quelan, from Proto-West Germanic *kwelan, from Proto-Germanic *kwelaną. queal.
• From Middle English quayle, quaile, quaille, from Anglo-Norman quaille, from Late Latin quaccola.
• From Middle English quaylen, qwaylen, from Old French coaillier, from Latin coāgulāre. coagulate.