Forms: 4–6 tele, 5 teill, 5–6 teele, 6–7 teyle, teale, 7 teil, tayle, 8 teall, 7– teal. [ME. tele, exemplified early in 14th c., but pointing to an unrecorded OE. tǽle, téle:—WGer. *taili. Du. has a deriv. form taling, teling masc., in Kilian teelingh, MDu. têling, teiling, MLG. têlink masc., teal. (Connection with Du. teling fem., generation, LG. teling fem., brood, from Du. and LG. têlen to breed, is improbable.)]
1. A small fresh-water fowl, Querquedula or Anas crecca, or other species of the genus, the smallest of the ducks, widely distributed in Europe, Asia, and America; also locally applied to other genera of the Anatidæ. Also as collective pl.
1314. in Wardrobe Acc. Edw. II., 21. 2 teles 3d.
c. 1325. Gloss. W. de Bibbesw., in Wright, Voc., 151. Turbe de cercels [gl. teles].
14[?]. Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 563/45. Anacius, a tele.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 487/2. Tele, bryd, turcella, turbella.
1486. Bk. St. Albans, d j. I haue seen them made sum to sle the pie sum to sle the Tele vppon the Reuer.
1530. Palsgr., 279/2. Teele a byrde, plignon.
c. 1532. Du Wes, Introd. Fr., ibid., 912. The teyle, le cercelle.
1538. Elyot, Querquedula, a waterfowle callyd a teale.
1575. Turberv., Falconrie, 191. Some water plashet or pitte where wylde fowle lye, as Teales or suche lyke.
1614. Markham, Cheap Husb., VII. xviii. (1668), 123. So you may nourish Teils, Widgens, Sheldrakes or green Plovers.
1661. Lovell, Hist. Anim. & Min., 183. Teales and Widgins…. Commonly they are very fat and sweet of taste.
1773. G. White, Selborne, xxxix. 99. I saw young teals taken alive in the ponds of Wolmer Forest.
1873. G. C. Davies, Mountain & Mere, ix. 70. A couple of teal came within shot.
1876. Smiles, Sc. Natur., xiii. (ed. 4), 259. The Teal … and the Eider duck visit the loch occasionally in winter.
b. The flesh of this bird as food.
c. 1475[?]. Sqr. lowe Degre, 320. With deynty meates that were dere,… The tele, the ducke and the drake.
1620. Venner, Via Recta, iii. 65. Teale … excelleth all other waterfowle.
1735. Sheridan, in Swift, Lett. to Mrs. Whiteway, 8 Nov. His teal was spoiled in the roasting.
2. With distinctive prefixes, applied to various species of Querquedula and allied genera: as
American or Green-winged Teal, Q. carolinensis; Baikal or Japanese Teal, Q. (Eunetta) formosa; Blue-winged Teal of N. and S. America, Q. discors or cyanoptera; Brazilian Teal, Q. brasiliensis; Chilian Teal, Q. flavirostris; Cinnamon or Redbreasted Teal, Q. cyanoptera; Falcated Teal, Q. falcata, of China; Summer, Cricket (see CRICKET sb.1 3), or Garganey Teal, the GARGANEY, Q. circia; also Chinese Teal, the mandarin duck, Aix galericulata; Goose Teal: see GOOSE sb. 8; Salt-water or Brown Diving Teal, the RUDDER-duck (G. Trumbull, Game Birds, 1888).
1678. Ray, Willughby’s Ornith., 378. Of the Summer-Teal, called by Gesner Ana circia.
1754. Catesby, Carol., I. 99. The Blue-Wing Teal.
1785. Pennant, Arct. Zool., II. 569. American Teal.
1785. Latham, Gen. Syn., VI. 557. Baikal Teal.
1824. Stephens, in Shaw’s Gen. Zool., XII. II. 143. Garganey Teal. Ibid., 153. Mexican Teal.
1837. Penny Cycl., IX. 181/2. The beautiful Anas (Boschas) formosa, Sw., or Baikal Teal of methodists. Ibid., 182/1. Such a species is actually the blue-winged Teal of North America.
1896. List Anim. Zool. Soc., 447 [Seven species named].
1896. Newton, Dict. Birds, 949. In ordinary talk ‘Teal’ stands for any Duck-like bird of small size. Ibid. In the same loose sense the word is often applied to the two most beautiful of the Family Anatidæ, belonging to the genus Æx …—the Carolina or Wood-Duck of North America, Æ. sponsa…, and the Mandarin-Duck of China, E. galericulata.
3. attrib. and Comb., as teal-catcher, -duck, -flapper (FLAPPER sb. 3) -shooting, -springing; teal-house = tealery (see below).
1668. Wilkins, Real Char., II. v. § 4. 156. To the Teal-kind should be reduced that other fowl … called Gargane.
1845. Statist. Acc. Scot., XIV. 122. Teal-duck … are found here.
1874. J. W. Long, Amer. Wild-foul, xv. 193. In no other branch of wild-fowling is a breech-loader or more advantage than in teal-shooting.
1888. ‘R. Boldrewood,’ Robbery under Arms, iii. (1890), 16. I was off the old pony and into the water like a teal-flapper.
1902. T. W. Webber, Forests Upper India, xviii. 247. A … canoe … which belongs to the teal-catchers. Ibid. Most bungalows in Gorakhpur have a teal house … where teal are fattened.
Hence Tealery, a place in which teal are kept and fattened.
1890. Cornh. Mag., July, 17. Here are … the cow-house, and the tealery, and the quailery.
1894. E. Braddon, in Blackw. Mag., Sept., 387/2. The teal … kept and fattened in a tealery.
