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Bike vs Quail - What's the difference?

bike | quail |

As nouns the difference between bike and quail

is that bike is a short form of bicycle while quail is any of various small game birds of the genera Coturnix, Anurophasis or Perdicula in the Old World family Phasianidae or of the New World family Odontophoridae.

As verbs the difference between bike and quail

is that bike is to ride a bike while quail is to waste away; to fade, wither.

As a proper noun Quail is

{{surname|from=Scottish Gaelic}.

bike

English

Etymology 1

From , by shortening, and possibly alteration. One explanation for the pronunciation is that bicycle'' is parsed to ''bi(cy)c(le).'' An alternative explanation is that ''bicycle'' is shortened to ''bic(ycle),'' and the terminal [s] is converted to a [k] because there is an underlying [k]/[s] sound, which is softened to [s] in ''bicycle'' but retained as [k] in bike ; compare the letter ‘c’ (used for [k]/[s]).'' An Etymological Brainteaser: The Shortening of Bicycle to Bike, Robert B. Hausmann, American Speech, Vol. 51, No. 3/4 (Autumn - Winter, 1976), pp. 272–274

Noun

(en noun)
  • A short form of bicycle.
  • A short form of motorbike.
  • (slang) A promiscuous woman; from “the town bike (everybody rides her)”.
  • Synonyms
    * (motorcycle): motorbike * (woman): slapper (British''), slag (''British )
    Derived terms
    * (bicycle) cross bike; dirt bike; like riding a bike; mountain bike; road bike; utility bike * (motorcycle) biker; bikey or bikie (Australia ); quad bike * (woman) town bike, village bike
    See also
    * trike
    References

    Verb

    (bik)
  • To ride a bike.
  • I biked so much yesterday that I'm very sore today.
  • To travel by bike.
  • It was such a nice day I decided to bike to the store, though it's far enough I usually take my car.

    Etymology 2

    Origin unknown.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (Scotland, Northern England) A nest of wasps or hornets.
  • *1955 , (Robin Jenkins), The Cone-Gatherers , Canongate 2012, p. 107:
  • *:he stood for a minute talking to them about their job of gathering cones, and telling them a story about a tree he'd once climbed which had a wasp's byke in it unbeknown to him.
  • Anagrams

    * * English collective nouns ----

    quail

    English

    (wikipedia quail)

    Etymology 1

    Origin uncertain; perhaps related to (etyl) queilen.

    Alternative forms

    * (l) (obsolete) * (l)

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To waste away; to fade, wither.
  • * 1978 , (Lawrence Durrell), Livia , Faber & Faber 1992 (Avignon Quintet), p. 358:
  • To tell the truth the prospect rather quailed him – wandering about in the gloomy corridors of a nunnery.
  • To lose heart or courage; to be daunted, fearful.
  • * Longfellow
  • Stouter hearts than a woman's have quailed in this terrible winter.
  • * 1886 , (Robert Louis Stevenson), (Strange Case Of Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde):
  • Mr. Utterson had already quailed at the name of Hyde; but when the stick was laid before him, he could doubt no longer; broken and battered as it was, he recognized it for one that he had himself presented many years before to Henry Jekyll.
  • * 1949 , (George Orwell), Nineteen Eighty-Four , p. 25:
  • His heart quailed before the enormous pyramidal shape.
  • To slacken, give way (of courage, faith etc.).
  • Etymology 2

    From (etyl) ).

    Noun

    (en-noun)
  • Any of various small game birds of the genera Coturnix'', ''Anurophasis'' or ''Perdicula in the Old World family Phasianidae or of the New World family Odontophoridae.
  • (obsolete) A prostitute; so called because the quail was thought to be a very amorous bird.
  • (Shakespeare)
    Derived terms
    * common quail * quailish

    See also

    * partridge

    Etymology 3

    (etyl) coaillier, (etyl) cailler, from (etyl) (lena) coagulare. See coagulate.

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To curdle; to coagulate, as milk does.
  • (Holland)
    (Webster 1913)