quail

Pronunciation: /kweɪl/

The English word “quail” has 8 meanings listed here.

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.

Etymology

From Middle English quaylen, from Middle Dutch queilen, quēlen, from Old Dutch *quelan, from Proto-West Germanic *kwelan, from Proto-Germanic *kwelaną (“to suffer”). Doublet of queal.

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.