1. Small gallinaceous game birds
   "We spotted a covey of quail in the field"
    
2. The flesh of quail cooked for food
   "The appetizer consisted of grilled quail on a bed of greens"

1. Draw back, as with fear or pain
   "she quailed when they showed the slaughtering of the calf";
   - flinch, squinch [N. Amer], funk, cringe, shrink, wince, recoil, blench

Sounds like: quad, quail

Derived forms: quailed, quails, quailing

Type of: move, phasianid, wildfowl

Part of: bevy

Encyclopedia: Quail, Texas