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Squab vs Quail - What's the difference?

squab | quail |

In obsolete terms the difference between squab and quail

is that squab is to fall plump; to strike at one dash, or with a heavy stroke while quail is a prostitute; so called because the quail was thought to be a very amorous bird.

As an adjective squab

is fat; thick; plump; bulky.

As an adverb squab

is with a heavy fall; plump.

As a proper noun Quail is

{{surname|from=Scottish Gaelic}.

squab

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • A baby pigeon or dove.
  • The meat of a squab (i.e. a young (domestic) pigeon or dove) used as food.
  • A baby rook.
  • A thick cushion, especially a flat one covering the seat of a chair or sofa.
  • * (imitating Earl of Dorset), Artemisia'', 1795, Robert Anderson (editor), ''A Complete Edition of the Poets of Great Britain , page 86,
  • On her large ?quab you find her ?pread, / Like a fat corp?e upon a bed, / That lies and ?tinks in ?tate.
  • * (rfdate)
  • Punching the squab of chairs and sofas.
  • A person of a short, fat figure.
  • * , The Progress of Error'', 1824, ''Poems of William Cowper, Esq , page 28,
  • Gorgonius sits abdominous and wan, / Like a fat squab upon a Chinese fan:

    Synonyms

    * (baby pigeon) piper, squeaker, pigeon chick, young pigeon, baby dove * (baby rook) rook chick, young rook

    Verb

    (squabb)
  • (obsolete) To fall plump; to strike at one dash, or with a heavy stroke.
  • To furnish with squabs, or cushions.
  • Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Fat; thick; plump; bulky.
  • * (rfdate) Betterton
  • Nor the squab daughter nor the wife were nice.
  • Unfledged; unfeathered.
  • a squab pigeon
    (King)

    Adverb

    (-)
  • (slang) With a heavy fall; plump.
  • * (rfdate) L'Estrange
  • The eagle took the tortoise up into the air, and dropped him down, squab , upon a rock.
    (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)