Forms: 4 quaille, 4–5 quaylle, 4–6 quayle, 4–7 quaile, 5 qwayle, qwyle, 6 quale, Sc. qua(i)lȝe, (7 -ȝie), 6– quail. [a. OF. quaille (F. caille) Prov. calha, It. quaglia, OSp. coalla, med.L. qualia, qualea and quaquila, quacula; the source is prob. Teutonic, cf. MDu., MLG. quackele (Du. kwakkel) and OHG. quatala, of imitative origin.]
1. A migratory bird allied to the partridge (family Perdicidæ), found in the Old World and Australia; esp. the European species, Coturnix communis or dactylisonans, the flesh of which is much esteemed for the table.
The Australian quails are chiefly hemipods (Turnix), esp. the Painted Quail, T. varius, or Hemipodius melinatus. The single New Zealand species (Coturnix Novæ-Zelandiæ) is almost extinct.
13[?]. E. E. Allit. P., B. 1084. I stod as stylle as dased quayle.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Clerk’s T., 1150. Thou shalt make him couche as doth a quaille.
1444. Pol. Poems (Rolls), II. 219. Geyn Phebus uprist syngen wyl the quaylle.
1535. Coverdale, Exod. xvi. 13. At euen the quayles came vp. Ibid., Ps. civ. 40. At their desyre, there came quales.
1555. W. Watreman, Fardle Facions, I. v. 53. Quaill, and mallard, are not but for the richer sorte.
1601. Sir W. Cornwallis, Ess., II. (1631), 284. The fighting game at Quailes was Anthonies overthrowe.
1684. Otway, Atheist, I. i. Do you dispise your own Manna … and long after Quails?
1727–46. Thomson, Summer, 1657. While the quail clamours for his running mate.
1774. Goldsm., Nat. Hist. (1776), V. 212. The quail is by all known to be a bird of passage.
1846. Stokes, Disc. Australia, II. vii. 259. It is known to the colonists as the Painted Quail.
1870. Morris, Earthly Par., III. IV. 296. Close within the long grass lies the quail.
2. dial. a. The corn-crake. (First quot. dub.)
c. 1470. Henryson, Mor. Fab., VIII. (Preach. Swallow) xxiii. The quailȝe craikand in the corne.
1881. Leicest. Gloss., Quail, the land-rail or corn-crake.
b. The small spotted water-hen.
1766. Pennant, Brit. Zool. (1768), II. 504. In Lincolnshire it is known by the name of quail.
3. One of several American gallinaceous birds resembling the European quail, esp. the Virginian Quail or colin (Ortyx virginianus), and the Californian or Crested Quail (Lophortyx californicus).
1817–8. Cobbett, Resid. U. S. (1822), 43, Chickens … as big as American Partridges (misnamed quails).
1840. Penny Cycl., XVII. 440. Ortyx Virginianus,… the Quail of the inhabitants of New England, the Partridge of the Pennsylvanians.
1861. G. F. Berkeley, Sportsm. W. Prairies, xi. 185. A brace of what the Americans call quail.
† 4. fig. A courtesan. Obs. (So F. caille coiffée.)
An allusion to the supposed amorous disposition of the bird: see the passages cited by Nares.
1606. Shaks., Tr. & Cr., V. i. 57. Heere’s Agamemnon,… one that loues Quails.
1694. Motteux, Rabelais, IV. Prol. (1737), 83. Several coated Quails, and lac’d Mutton.
5. attrib. and Comb., as quail-basket, -feeding, -fight, -fighter, -fighting, -net, -pit, -potage, etc.; quail-surfeited adj.; quail-call = QUAIL-PIPE; quail-dove, a dove of the West Indies and Florida (Starnœnas cyanocephalus); quail-hawk, a New Zealand species of falcon; quail-pigeon, a pigeon of the genus Geophaps; quail-snipe, a South American plover of the genus Thinocorys. Also QUAIL-PIPE.
1598. Florio, Quagliere,… a *quaile basket.
1822. D. Booth, Analyt. Dict., I. 99. A Quailpipe or *Quailcall.
1884. Encycl. Brit., XX. 147/1. In old days they were taken in England in a net, attracted thereto by means of a Quail call.
1820. T. Mitchell, Aristoph., I. p. lxiii. When a mania took place in Athens … for *quail-feeding or philosophy.
1581. Mulcaster, Positions, xviii. (1887), 78. Cokfights and *quailefightes.
1836–48. B. D. Walsh, Aristoph., Acharnians, I. iv. note. The Athenians … were great cock-fighters and *quail-fighters.
1776. Goldsm., Nat. Hist. (1790), V. 214. *Quailfighting was a favourite amusement among the Athenians.
1873. Buller, Birds N. Zeal. (1888), I. 217. The *Quail-Hawk exhibits great perseverance in pursuit of its prey.
1598. Florio, Quagliera, a *quaile-net.
1879. Mrs. A. E. James, Ind. Househ. Managem., 56. Quails … kept in your own *quail-pit and well fed and fatted up.
1725. Bradley, Fam. Dict., s.v. Quail, You may also have a *Quail-Potage in the form of an Oil.
1649. G. Daniel, Trinarch., Hen. V., cxxv. And hang a Nose to Leekes, *Quaile-Surfetted.
