▪ I. fowl, n.
(faʊl)
Forms: 1 fuᵹel, -ol, -ul, 2–3 fuȝel, -hel, -wel, south. vuhel, 3–4 foȝel, south. voȝel, (3 feoȝel, fohȝel), 4– 5 foghel, -il(l, -ul, (4 fughil, foxl, -ul, fouxl, -ul, fuxl, fuxol, -ul, 5 foghle), 3–7 foul(e, 3–4 fou-, fowel, (south. vowel), fuel, 4 fule, (fouul), 5 f(e)wle, -ylle, 4–7 fowle, 6– fowl.
[Com. Teutonic; OE. fuᵹel, fuᵹol, fuᵹul str. masc. = OFris. fugel, OS. fugol (Du. vogel), OHG. fogal (MHG. and Ger. vogel), ON. fugl (Sw. fogel, Da. fugl), Goth. fugls:—OTeut. *foglo-z, fuglo-z; usually believed to be a dissimilated form of *floglo-, fluglo-, f. flug- to fly; cf. the OE. adj. fluᵹol ‘fugax’, and the form fluᵹlas heofun in the Rushworth Gloss. Matt. xiii. 32, rendering volucres cæli; the Lindisf. gloss has fleᵹende, the Wessex gospel fuhlas.
The forms containing x are from the Cotton MS. of the Cursor Mundi; perh. miscopied from an original which had ȝ (or possibly þ).]
1. a. Any feathered vertebrate animal; = bird n. 2 (q.v. with note attached). Now rare exc. collect.
| Beowulf 218 (Gr.) Gewat þa ofer wæᵹholm winde ᵹefysed flota famiᵹheals fuᵹle ᵹelicost. c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Matt. viii. 20 Foxas habbað holu and heofenan fuᵹlas [c 1160 Hatton fuᵹeles] nest. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 81 A vuhel com flon from houene into orðe. a 1225 Ancr. R. 298 We speken of fuwelene cunde, þet beoð iefned to ancre. a 1300 Cursor M. 621 Fiss on sund, and fouxl on flight. 1340 Ayenb. 254 Þe herte is ase þe uoȝel þet wolde vly to his wylle. 1375 Barbour Bruce vii. 188 Tharfor he slepit as foul on twist. c 1450 Mirour Saluacioun 1002 Thi son wham we..seke als foghil the day. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 2 b, Fowles, & all other creatures..hath place deputed..to them. 1597 Montgomerie Cherrie & Slae 460, I leuir haue euer Ane foule in hand, or tway, Nor seand ten fleand About me. 1599 Shakes. Much Ado ii. iii. 95 Stalke on, stalke on, the foule sits. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) 213 To defend them from Eagles and other ravening Fowls. 1640 Fuller Joseph's Coat, David's Punishm. xxii. (1867) 235, I for your fowls of Phasis do not care. 1719 De Foe Crusoe i. xxv, I saw a great fowl, like a hawk, sit upon a tree. 1791 Cowper Iliad xvii. 293 And the fowls sate with his flesh. |
| collect. 1603 Drayton Bar. Wars vi. lxv, The fearefull Fowle all prostrate to her power. 1605 Camden Rem. (1637) 1 Stored with infinite delicate fowle. 1769 Goldsm. Rom. Hist. (1786) II. 273 In this was served up..seven thousand fowl of the most valuable kinds. 1865 Kingsley Herew. xvi, All the fowl of heaven were flocking to the feast. |
† b. In narrower sense: Winged game.
Obs.| 1646 Evelyn Mem. (1857) I. 252 Sometimes we shot at fowls and other birds: nothing came amiss. 1763 H. Walpole Vertue's Anecd. Paint. III. 85 In the great anti⁓chamber [at Chatsworth] are several dead fowl over the chimney finely executed. |
† c. With some modifying addition; as,
fowl of chase,
flight,
game,
prey,
ravin.
Obs.| c 1381 Chaucer Parl. Foules 323 The foules of ravyne Were hyest set. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xii. vi. (1495) 416 The owle semyth lyke to foules of pray. c 1420 Chron. Vilod. 280 Wyld bestes and folys of flyȝt. 1485 Caxton Paris & V. 26 Faulcens and many other fowles of chace. 1671 Milton P.R. ii. 342 Beasts of chase, or fowl of game In pastry built. |
| fig. a 1300 Cursor M. 21276 (Gött.) Þe firth Iohn, fowel of [Cotton MS. on] flight. |
d. A troublesome sailor, one unamenable to discipline.
slang.| 1937 in Partridge Slang Dict. 1938 ‘Giraldus’ Merry Matloe Again 145, I was a ‘fowl’ of the first water. I was always getting ‘run-in’, always in trouble and had no zeal for the Navy whatsoever. |
† 2. In wider sense: Winged creatures. Also
collect. in plural sense.
Obs.| 1382 Wyclif Ecclus. xi. 3 Short in foules [Vulg. in volatilibus] is a bee. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xii. Introd. (Tollem. MS.), To þe ornament of þe eyer parteyneþ briddes and foules [volatilia]. 1613 Purchas Pilgrimage viii. x. 789 They offered to him [the Sunne] Fowles, from the Butter-flie to the Eagle. 1648 Gage West Ind. xii. (1655) 45 Battes, or Rear-mice and other fowle. |
3. The prevailing sense: A ‘barn-door fowl’, a domestic cock or hen; a bird of the genus
Gallus. In the
U.S. applied also to ‘a domestic duck or turkey’ (
Cent. Dict.). Often with some modifying word prefixed: as,
barn-door-fowl,
game-fowl,
guinea-fowl, for which see those words.
| 1580 Sidney Arcadia iii. (1590) 311 As folkes keep foul when they are not fat enough for their eating. 1697 W. Dampier Voy. I. iv. 76 The Inhabitants plant Corn..and breed a few Fowls. 1841 Lane Arab. Nts. I. 123 Fowls simply roasted or boiled. 1879 Farrar St. Paul (1883) 43 The Talmud..devotes one whole treatise..to the method of killing a fowl. |
4. a. The flesh of birds used for food. Now only in the phrases
fish, flesh, and fowl, etc.
b. In narrower sense: The flesh of the ‘barn-door’ or domestic fowl.
| 1673 O. Walker Educ. (1677) 169 A feast suggests..Fish, Foul, Flesh. 1861 Beeton Bk. Househ. Man. §978 Fricasseed Fowl. Ingredients—The remains of cold roast fowl [etc.]. |
5. attrib. and
Comb. a. simple
attrib., as
fowl-flight,
fowl-house,
fowl-net,
fowl-yard.
b. objective, as
fowl-keeping,
fowl-rearing,
fowl-stealer,
fowl-stealing.
c. Special comb., as
fowl-cholera = chicken-cholera: see
cholera 4;
fowl-foot, the plant
Ornithopus perpusillus;
fowl-grass,
fowl-meadow-grass,
Poa trivialis;
fowl paralysis, Marek's disease, a type of cancer affecting poultry;
fowl pest, (
a)
= fowl plague; (
b)
= Newcastle disease;
fowl plague, an acute, highly contagious virus disease of the domestic fowl and other birds that is usually fatal;
fowl pox, a virus disease of the domestic fowl and other birds, in which lesions appear on feather-free parts of the body or on the mucous membranes of the mouth, nose, or throat;
fowl-run, a place where fowls may run, an establishment for breeding fowls.
| 1883 Gd. Words 179 The epidemic among fowls, called *fowl-cholera. |
| c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 3321 At euen cam a *fuȝel-fliȝt, fro-ward arabie. |
| 1578 Lyte Dodoens iv. xxix. 487 Ornithopodium..This wild herbe is called in Brabant Uoghelvoet, that is to say in English, Birdes foote, or *Fowle foote, bycause his huskes or cods are lyke to a birdes foote. |
| 1839 Lincoln, etc. Gaz. 12 Feb. 3/4 They went to Mr. F.'s; whose *fowl-house they broke open. |
| 1894 Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. June 303 It is *fowl-keeping on this modest scale that pays. |
| 1774 J. Q. Adams Diary 28 Feb., Shall I try to introduce *fowl-meadow, and herds-grass into the meadows? 1786 M. Cutler in Life, Jrnls. & Corr. (1888) II. 264 Fowl meadow-grass is cultivated in wet meadows. |
| 1856 Kane Arct. Expl. II. xiii. 134 Tinkering over..*fowl⁓nets or other household-gear. |
| 1932 Ann. Reg. Scientific Poultry Breeders' Assoc. 75 There seems little doubt that there is a special condition affecting poultry which, for want of a better name, is termed *fowl paralysis. 1960 Farmer & Stockbreeder Suppl. 22 Mar. 1/2 An outstanding feature is the resistance to leucosis and fowl paralysis. |
| 1909 Webster, *Fowl pest. 1912 J. R. Mohler et al. tr. Hutyra & Marek's Spec. Path. Dis. Dom. Animals I. i. xiii. 290 Fowl pest is an acute, contagious, infectious disease of fowls. 1953 ‘M. Innes’ Christmas at Candleshoe x. 110 The other gentlemen had fallen into a grave discourse of fowl-pest, hard-pad and foot-and-mouth disease. 1970 Times 21 Oct. 10/1 The current upsurge of fowl pest is at its most destructive in the factory farming units. |
| 1937 Poultry World Ann. 82 *Fowl plague or pest is a very highly infectious disease caused by a virus... The so-called Newcastle Disease closely resembles Fowl plague in many respects, but is caused by a different virus. 1970 Q. Poultry Bull. (Brit. Oil & Cake Mills) Dec. 13 The Fowl Pest Order of 1936 with amendments lays down the legislation governing both Newcastle Disease and Fowl Plague. |
| 1908 M. H. Hayes tr. Friedberger & Fröhner's Vet. Path. (ed. 6) II. 425 The causative agents in *fowl-pox belong to the group of so-called filtrable agents of infection. 1932 Gaiger & Davies Vet. Path. & Bact. xxvii. 388 Fowl-pox occurs naturally in fowls, turkeys and other birds. 1953 L. Robinson Mod. Poultry Husbandry xx. 551 Fowl pox is extremely contagious. |
| 1894 Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. June 302 A point of cardinal importance..in..*fowl-rearing. |
| 1886 H. F. Lester Under Two Fig Trees 179 In one corner of the little estate is a *fowl-run. |
| 1825 Sporting Mag. XVI. 336 Have we..no *fowl stealers. |
| 1892 Pall Mall G. 24 Mar. 2/1 Poaching is closely allied to *fowl-stealing. |
| 1889 Ibid. 27 May 2/3 The lack of interest displayed in their *fowl-yards by..British farmers. |
▪ II. fowl, v. (
faʊl)
[OE. fuᵹ(e)lian, f. fuᵹel fowl.] intr. To catch, hunt, shoot, or snare wildfowl.
| c 1000 ælfric Gram. xxv. (Z.) 146 Aucupor, ic fuᵹlie. 1399 Langl. Rich. Redeles ii. 157 Thus ffoulyd this ffaukyn on ffyldis abouȝte. 1519 Presentm. Juries in Surtees Misc. (1888) 32 Þ{supt} no man fyshe nor fewle in the dam. 1530 Palsgr. 557/2, I fowle after byrdes, Je vas a la pipée. 1697 W. Dampier Voy. I. vii. 192 The Tenour of them [Commissions] is, to give a Liberty to fish, fowl, and hunt. 1766 Blackstone Comm. II. xxvii. 419 Such persons as may thus lawfully hunt, fish, or fowl. 1850 A. Jameson Leg. Monast. Ord. (1863) 86 He went out fowling in a small skiff. |
† b. fig. with
after,
for.
| a 1420 Hoccleve De Reg. Princ. 2442 But tonge of man..Nat may be tamed..And after repreef fissheth, clappeth, fouleth. 1596 Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. vi. 314 Heir hes thou a commodious and meit place for the slauchtir, that thou foules for. |
† c. quasi-trans. To hunt over, beat (a bush).
| 1611 B. Jonson Catiline i. i, They..Fowl every brook and bush to please Their wanton taste. |
▪ III. fowl(e obs. forms of
foal,
foul.