What does quailed mean?
Quailed is the past tense and past participle of quail, a verb meaning to lose courage and shrink back in fear, awe, or sudden alarm. It can describe a person who freezes, cowers, or recoils from something threatening, and it can also characterize a voice or posture that has become visibly apprehensive. The word is standard in British and American English, though it often sounds more vivid or literary than the plainer verbs flinched and cowered. Both past forms are common: “She quailed at the sound of thunder” reports an event, while “Her quailed voice betrayed her nervousness” describes an existing state. Quailed can therefore suggest not only fear but a visible loss of nerve, making it useful in descriptions of character, atmosphere, and emotional retreat. Its old verbal roots are preserved in modern usage, while the simple grammar remains transparent: quailed works as a past verb and a past participle.
To lose courage and shrink back in fear, awe, or alarm; to cower or recoil.
"He quailed before the enormous challenge and did not attempt it."
Usually intransitive, though it can also occur in passive constructions such as “the delegation was quailed by the scale of the task.”
Cowering or recoiled in fear; visibly apprehensive or diminished in confidence.
"She spoke in a quailed voice."
This use is especially common attributively before words such as “voice,” “look,” and “expression.”
One word carries both fear and motion: to quail is not merely to feel afraid, but to recoil from what frightens you.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does quailed come from?
The English verb descends from Middle English quailen, borrowed from Anglo-French quaillir. The Old French form meant “to recoil” or “to be afraid,” though the exact remote origin of that Romance word is uncertain. Quail became standard chiefly as an intransitive verb, with quailed supplying its regular past-tense and past-participle forms.
Related word forms
How quailed is actually used
Quailed is standard in British and American English. It often has a slightly literary or heightened tone, vividly suggesting a sudden loss of nerve or an act of cowering.
Easily confused with quailed
Quailed is a past-tense form of the verb quail; quail can also be the base verb and, as a separate noun, a small game bird.