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Cower vs Quail - What's the difference?

cower | quail | Related terms |

Cower is a related term of quail.


As a verb cower

is to crouch or cringe, or to avoid or shy away from something, in fear or cower can be (obsolete|transitive) to cherish with care.

As a proper noun quail is

.

cower

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) kuren or from Scandinavian ((etyl) . Unrelated to coward, which is of Latin origin.

Verb

(en verb)
  • To crouch or cringe, or to avoid or shy away from something, in fear.
    • He'd be useless in war. He'd just cower in his bunker until the enemy came in and shot him, or until the war was over.
  • * Dryden
    • Our dame sits cowering o'er a kitchen fire.
  • * Goldsmith
    • Like falcons, cowering on the nest.
    See also
    * coward * cowardice

    Etymology 2

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (obsolete) To cherish with care.
    • (Webster 1913)

    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)