quailed
past simple and past participle ofquail
quail
verb[I]
literaryuk/kweɪl/us/kweɪl/tofeelor showfear; towantto beabletomoveaway from something because youfearit:
Charlie quailedatthesoundof his mother'sangryvoice.
She quailedbeforeher boss'sanger.
Compare
flinch
shrinkverb
winceverb
recoilverb
Afraid
- afraid
- be in fear ofyourlifephrase
- be like a deer/rabbit caught in the headlightsidiom
- bottle
- bottle out
- bug out
- horror-struck
- in terror ofyourlifeidiom
- intimidated
- leaf
- nebbish
- panic
- panic-stricken
- quake
- shake
- squirrelly
- terrified
- terror-stricken
- threatened
- unconfident
Examplesofquailed
quailed
In English, many past and present participles of verbs can be used as adjectives. Some of these examples may show the adjective use.
For too long the official mindquailedbefore settler muscle.
From theCambridge English Corpus
How many papers have been published because the refereequailedbefore unreadable formulas?
From theCambridge English Corpus
His effrontery, however,quailedbefore a disease so earnest and energetic as pericarditis, and he requested that some regular physician should be called in to treat the malady.
From theCambridge English Corpus
I am pleased that some train operators have notquailedat the technical obstacles that make it difficult to carry cycles on trains.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under theOpen Parliament Licence v3.0
We all remember the days of the county clerk whoquailedcouncillors.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under theOpen Parliament Licence v3.0
They neverquailedat their tasks.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under theOpen Parliament Licence v3.0
That politicians oftenquailedunder his gaze was no wonder, for the gaze was piercing.
From
This example is from Wikipedia and may be reused under a CC BY-SA license.
Wikipedia
This example is from Wikipedia and may be reused under a CC BY-SA license.He would often go in where othersquailed, and was always bound to carry them to a successful issue.
FromThis example is from Wikipedia and may be reused under a CC BY-SA license.
Wikipedia
This example is from Wikipedia and may be reused under a CC BY-SA license.And fear of his personality was so deeply impressed on the hearts of all, both the high and the low, that the courage of lion-hearted personsquailedin his presence.
FromThis example is from Wikipedia and may be reused under a CC BY-SA license.
Wikipedia
This example is from Wikipedia and may be reused under a CC BY-SA license.These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.