different between quail vs quoil

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?kwe?l/
• Rhymes: -e?l

Etymology 1

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

Alternative forms

• quele (obsolete)
• queal (obsolete)

Verb

quail (third-person singular simple present quails, present participle quailing, simple past and past participle quailed)

1. (intransitive) To waste away; to fade, to wither [from 15th c.]
2. (transitive, now rare) To daunt or frighten (someone) [from 16th c.]
   • 1978, Lawrence Durrell, Livia: or, Buried Alive: A Novel, London; Boston, Mass.: Faber and Faber, ?ISBN; republished in The Avignon Quintet, London: Faber, published 1992, ?ISBN, page 358:

     To tell the truth the prospect rather quailed him – wandering about in the gloomy corridors of a nunnery.

3. (intransitive) To lose heart or courage; to be daunted or fearful. [from 16th c.]
4. (intransitive) Of courage, faith, etc.: to slacken, to give way. [from 16th c.]

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English quayle, quaile, quaille, from Anglo-Norman quaille, from Late Latin quaccola (“quail”).

Noun

quail (plural quails or quail)

1. 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.
   • 1954, Wildlife Review (issues 75-83, page 44)

     Quail require little water, so there is no point to putting in a guzzler if there is any permanent water within travel range.

2. (uncountable) The meat from this bird eaten as food.
3. (obsolete) A prostitute, so called because the quail was thought to be a very amorous bird.

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• partridge

Etymology 3

From Middle English quaylen, qwaylen, from Old French coaillier, from Latin co?gul?re. Doublet of coagulate.

Verb

quail (third-person singular simple present quails, present participle quailing, simple past and past participle quailed)

1. (obsolete) To curdle or coagulate, as milk does.

Anagrams

• quali

English

Noun

quoil (plural quoils)

1. Archaic form of coil.
   • 1763, A new and complete dictionary of arts and sciences: Volume 1 (page 823)

     […] a kettle or iron pot with a quoil or two of inch rope fa?tened to its bale […]

   • 1945, Frank Fraser Darling, Crofting agriculture: its practice in the West Highlands and islands

     The sooner the grass can be got into quoils the better, for not only does the quoil stage give temporary protection but hay makes a good deal in quoil.