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Quail vs Chicken - What's the difference?

quail | chicken |

In intransitive terms the difference between quail and chicken

is that quail is to slacken, give way (of courage, faith etc.) while chicken is to develop physical or other characteristics resembling a chicken's, for example, bumps on the skin.

As an adjective chicken is

cowardly.

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)

    chicken

    English

    (wikipedia chicken) (Gallus gallus) (Gallus gallus)

    Noun

  • (countable) A domestic fowl, Gallus gallus , especially when young
  • (uncountable) The meat from this bird eaten as food.
  • (countable, slang) A coward.
  • (countable, gay slang) A young, attractive, slim man, usually having little body hair. Compare chickenhawk
  • (countable, slang) A young or inexperienced person.
  • * 1887 , Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, A Study in Scarlet , III:
    • "This case will make a stir, sir," he remarked. "It beats anything I have seen, and I am no chicken ."
  • * Jonathan Swift
    • Stella is no chicken .
  • A confrontational game in which the participants move toward each other at high speed (usually in automobiles); the player who turns first to avoid colliding into the other is the chicken (, the loser.)
    • Don't play chicken with a freight train; you're guaranteed to lose.
  • The game of dare.

    • Synonyms

    * (bird) cock (male only), chook , hen (female only), rooster (male only) * (coward) * twink * (young inexperienced person) spring chicken * See also

    Derived terms

    * chicken and egg * chicken feed * chicken fillet * chickenhawk * chicken Kiev * chickenpox * chicken salt * chickenshit * like a chicken with its head cut off * like a chicken with the pip * play chicken * run around like a chicken with its head cut off * spring chicken

    Related terms

    * chick

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • cowardly

    • Verb

    (en verb)
  • To avoid as a result of fear.
  • To develop physical or other characteristics resembling a chicken's, for example, bumps on the skin.

    • Derived terms

    * chicken out * chicken legs

    See also

    * egg * poultry * cockerel * hen

    Anagrams

    * English adjectives ending in -en 1000 English basic words