quail

1. (intransitive) To waste away; to fade, to wither.intransitive

2. (transitive, now rare) To daunt or frighten (someone).Examples: "Death dvvels vvithin vs, and if gentle Peace / Diſcend not ſoone, our ſorrovves to ſurceaſe, / Latium (alreadie quaild) vvill be deſtroyd."; "But when he meant to quaile and shake the Orbe, / He was as ratling Thunder."; "To tell the truth the prospect rather quailed him – wandering about in the gloomy corridors of a nunnery."archaictransitive

3. (intransitive) To lose heart or courage; to be daunted or fearful.Examples: "Though George had stopped in his sentence, yet, his blood being up, he was not to be cowed by all the generations of Osborne; rallying instantly, he replied to the bullying look of his father, with another so indicative of resolution and defiance, that the elder man quailed in his turn, and looked away."; "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."; "Stouter hearts than a woman's have quailed in this terrible winter. Yours is tender and trusting, and needs a stronger one to lean on; so I have come to you now, with an offer of marriage."intransitive

4. (intransitive) Of courage, faith, etc.: to slacken, to give way.Examples: "Therewith his ſturdie corage ſoone was quayd, / And all his ſences were with ſuddein dread diſmayd."; ""Sir, if you think your name is shamed by me, we had better part," said Mrs. Trevelyan, rising from her chair, and confronting him with a look before which his own almost quailed."; "And he commanded his soldiers […] to frighten them with fierce swords, but the hearts of the holy men did not quail, and they were unable to alter their words."intransitive