quail
noun
- name for several genera of birds in the order Galliformes
verb
No English definition recorded for this entry.
L25049 on Wikidata ↗Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /kweɪl/ / /ˈkweɪ.əl/
name
Etymology: From a Manx form of McPhail. Also an English nickname from the quail bird.
- A surname from Scottish Gaelic.
noun
Etymology: From Middle English quayle, quaile, quaille, from Anglo-Norman quaille, from Late Latin quaccola (“quail”). (prostitute): So called because the quail was thought to be a very amorous bird.
- 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.
“Quail require little water, so there is no point to putting in a guzzler if there is any permanent water within travel range.”
- The meat from this bird eaten as food.
- A prostitute.
“Her's Agamemnon, an honeſt fellow inough and one that loues quailes, but hee has not ſo much braine as eare-wax, […]”
verb
Etymology: From Middle English quaylen, qwaylen, from Old French quaillier, coaillier, from Latin coāgulāre. Doublet of coagulate.
- To curdle or coagulate, as milk does.
“[Laser is given] to such as haue supped off and drunk quailed milke, that is cluttered within their stomack.”