|
QUAIL (1),
to cower, shrink, fail in spirit. (E.) The old meaning of quail
was 'to suffer torment, pine, die;' hence to faint, esp. used of the
spirits. 'My false spirits quail,' Cymb. v. 5. 149; 'their quailing
breasts;' 3 Hen. VI, iii. 3. 54. 'The braunch once dead, the budde
eke nedes must quaile,' i.e. die; Spenser, Shep. Kal. November,
91. [The spelling is not quite exact, it should rather have been queel
or queal; but it was prob. affected by some confusion with the word quaile,
to curdle, used of milk; for which see Prompt. Parv. p. 418, and Way's
note. We also find confusion between quail, to die, and quell,
to kill, as in 'to quail and shake the orb,' Antony, v. 2.
85. Cf. Devonshire queal, to faint away; Halliwell.]
M. E. quelen, to die; not common. A strong verb, with pt. t. qual,
pl. quelen; the pl. quelen = they died, occurs 10 times in Layamon,
ll. 31825 to 31834. 'Men quelað on hungre' = men die of hunger, O.
Eng. Homilies, ed. Morris, i. 111, l. 10.—A.
S. cwelan, to die, in comp. ácwelan, to die utterly, Exod. vii. 18. + Du.
quelen,
to pine away. + O. H. G. quelan, to suffer torment. β. From a Teut.
base KWAL, to suffer torment or pain, to choke; whence also A. S. cwalu,
destruction (Grein), Icel. kvöl, Dan. and Swed. qval, G. qual, torment, agony;
cognate with Lithuan. géla, torment, anguish. Fick, iii.
54. So also M. E. querken, to choke, is from the equivalent base
KWAR. Der. quell, q.v., qualm, q.v. ➩
The M. E. quailen, to curdle, coagulate, is from O. F. coailler, later
cailler,
to curdle (see Littré); from Lat. coagulare; see Coagulate.
QUAIL (2),
a migratory bird. (F.,—Low Lat.,—Low G.) M. E. quaille,
Chaucer, C. T. 9082; quayle, Wright's Vocab. i. 177, l. 13.—O. F. quaille
(13th cent., Littré), mod. F. caille. Cf. Ital. quaglia, a quail.—Low
Lat. quaguila, a quail.—O. Du. quackel, 'a quaile;' Hexham.
Lit. 'a quacker.'—O. Du. quacken, 'to croake,' id.; cognate with E.
Quack
(1), q.v.
|
