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fowl

 - 4 dictionary results

fowl

  [foul] noun, plural fowls, (especially collectively) fowl, verb
Use fowl in a Sentence
–noun
1. the domestic or barnyard hen or rooster; chicken. Compare domestic fowl.
2. any of several other, usually gallinaceous, birds that are barnyard, domesticated, or wild, as the duck, turkey, or pheasant.
3. (in market and household use) a full-grown domestic fowl for food purposes, as distinguished from a chicken or young fowl.
4. the flesh or meat of a domestic fowl.
5. any bird (used chiefly in combination): waterfowl; wildfowl.
–verb (used without object)
6. to hunt or take wildfowl.
Origin:
bef. 900; ME foul, OE fugol, fugel; c. OS fugal, Goth fugls, OHG fogal (G Vogel)
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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fowl   (foul)   
n.   pl. fowl or fowls

  1. Any of various birds of the order Galliformes, especially the common, widely domesticated chicken (Gallus gallus).

    1. A bird, such as the duck, goose, turkey, or pheasant, that is used as food or hunted as game.

    2. The flesh of such birds used as food.

  3. A bird of any kind.

intr.v.   fowled, fowl·ing, fowls
To hunt, trap, or shoot wildfowl.

[Middle English foul, from Old English fugol; see pleu- in Indo-European roots.]
fowl'er n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

fowl 
O.E. fugel "bird," general Gmc. word (cf. Gothic fugls), from P.Gmc. *foglaz (cf. O.N. fugl, M.Du. voghel, Ger. vogel, Goth. fugls), probably by dissimilation from *flug-la-, lit. "flyer," from the same root as O.E. fleogan, modern fly (v.1). Originally "bird;" narrower sense of "domestic hen or rooster" (the main modern meaning) is first recorded 1580; in U.S. also extended to ducks and geese.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Idioms & Phrases

fowl

see neither fish nor fowl.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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