bobwhite quail
- noun
- /ˈbɑːbˌhwaɪt kweɪl/
- US
:
codorniz bobwhite
- The shy, little bobwhite quail spends most of its life in dense brush and thick grass hiding from predators.
Examples
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Dad was an avid hunter, mainly upland birds, bobwhite quail in particular.
Blog text (6) -
During the Thanksgiving holidays, I hunted bobwhite quail at a game preserve in South Carolina.
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Gibbons, the UGA biologist, agrees with hunters and plantation owners that the decline in bobwhite quail is of great concern.
Synonyms
25
4.2
A small round bird with a short tail that lives in fields
1
9.0
A small North American bird with a loud two-part call that people often hunt for food or sport
A small brown ground bird like a quail that lives in eastern and central United States
A small North American bird like a quail that people often hunt
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase denotes a type of quail and this is directly derivable from the constituents: 'bobwhite' (a named quail species) combined with 'quail' (the bird). Noun-noun species names are a straightforward compositional pattern (a subtype of quail), so a learner who knows both words would understand the meaning.
Etymology
The name bobwhite quail comes from the bird's clear whistle that sounds like 'bob-white'. People named the bird for that call, so the name points to the sound it makes.