Quaile

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. A small plump ground-dwelling game bird of the partridge family ; to shrink back in fear and lose one's courage
2. A short, stout bird that lives on the ground and is hunted for food ; to tremble or flinch with dread and lose nerve
3. A little speckled game fowl kept or hunted in fields ; to cower, falter, or give way when faced with danger

Etymology: Quaile is a surname with two separate roots, and the Manx one is the more distinctive. It is a Manx form of McPhail, the Gaelic patronymic meaning "son of Paul", carried over from the Isle of Man into English-speaking records. The Manx Gaelic spelling has been anglicised into the familiar shape that readers meet on the island's electoral rolls and gravestones. The name also has an independent English origin. It is a nickname drawn from the quail, the small game bird, which was used as a personal byname in medieval England much as other birds and animals were. Such nicknames were often given to someone whose appearance, habits or manner reminded neighbours of the creature. So the surname can descend from a Gaelic patronymic on the Isle of Man or from an English bird-nickname, and the two lines have simply come to look identical on the page.