quail

Definitions


[kweɪl], (Noun)

Definitions:
- a small short-tailed Old World game bird resembling a tiny partridge, typically having brown camouflaged plumage

- a small or medium-sized New World game bird, the male of which has distinctive facial markings


Phrases:

Origin:
Middle English: from Old French quaille, from medieval Latin coacula (probably imitative of its call)


[kweɪl], (Verb)

Definitions:
- feel or show fear or apprehension
(e.g: she quailed at his heartless words)


Phrases:

Origin:
late Middle English (in the sense ‘waste away, come to nothing’): of unknown origin




definition by Oxford Dictionaries