- quail (n.)
- c.1300, quayle, from Old French quaille, perhaps via Medieval Latin quaccula (cf. Provençal calha, Italian quaglia, Old Spanish coalla), from a Germanic source (cf. Old High German quahtala "quail," German Wachtel), imitative of the bird's cry. Or the English word might be directly from Germanic. Slang meaning "young attractive woman" first recorded 1859.
- quail (v.)
- "to lose heart, to shrink," c.1400, of unknown origin, perhaps from Middle Dutch quelen "to suffer, be ill," from Proto-Germanic *kwel- "to die" (see quell). Or from obsolete quail "to curdle" (late 14c.), from Old French coailler, from Latin coagulare (see coagulate). Sense of "cower" is attested from 1550s. Common 1520-1650, then rare until 19c.; apparently revived by Scott. Related: Quailed; quailing.