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Cuckoo vs Quail - What's the difference?

cuckoo | quail |

As an adjective cuckoo

is crazy; not sane.

As a noun cuckoo

is any of various birds, of the family cuculidae, famous for laying its eggs in the nests of other species; but especially the , cuculus canorus , that has a characteristic two-note call.

As a verb cuckoo

is to make the call of a cuckoo.

As a proper noun quail is

.

cuckoo

English

(wikipedia cuckoo)

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Crazy; not sane.

    • Noun

    (en noun)
  • Any of various birds, of the family Cuculidae, famous for laying its eggs in the nests of other species; but especially the , Cuculus canorus , that has a characteristic two-note call.
  • The sound of that particular bird.
  • The bird shaped figure found in Swiss/German clocks (cuckoo clocks) or the clock itself.
  • Someone found where they shouldn't be (used especially in the phrase a cuckoo in the nest ).
  • Someone who is crazy.

    • Related terms

    * cuckoo clock * cuckoo dove * * cuckoo's egg * cloud-cuckoo-land * cuculine (rare) * cuckoo sign

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To make the call of a cuckoo
  • To repeat something incessantly

    • 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)