quail
noun
[ kweɪl ]
• a small short-tailed Old World game bird resembling a tiny partridge, typically having brown camouflaged plumage.
• a small or medium-sized New World game bird, the male of which has distinctive facial markings.
Origin:
Middle English: from Old French quaille, from medieval Latin coacula (probably imitative of its call).
quail
verb
• feel or show fear or apprehension.
• "she quailed at his heartless words"
Similar:
cower,
cringe,
waver,
falter,
get cold feet,
flinch,
shrink,
recoil,
start,
shy (away),
pull back,
back away,
draw back,
shudder,
shiver,
tremble,
shake,
quake,
blench,
blanch,
Origin:
late Middle English (in the sense ‘waste away, come to nothing’): of unknown origin.
