fowl

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fowl

a bird used for food or hunted as game; chicken, turkey, duck, pheasant

Not to be confused with:

foul – unfair; unclean; rotten; grossly offensive to the senses; disgustingly loathsome: a foul smell; unfavorable: foul weather

fowl

(foul)

n. pl. fowl or fowls

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

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

b. 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.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

fowl

(faʊl)

1. (Animals) See domestic fowl

2. (Animals) any other bird, esp any gallinaceous bird, that is used as food or hunted as game. See also waterfowl, wildfowl

3. (Cookery) the flesh or meat of fowl, esp of chicken

4. (Animals) an archaic word for any bird

(Hunting) (intr) to hunt or snare wildfowl

[Old English fugol; related to Old Frisian fugel, Old Norse fogl, Gothic fugls, Old High German fogal]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

fowl

(faʊl)

n., pl. fowls, (esp. collectively) fowl,
n.

1. any domestic hen or rooster; chicken.

2. any of several other, usu. gallinaceous, birds, as turkeys or pheasants.

3. 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.

v.i.

6. to hunt or take wildfowl.

[before 900; Middle English foul, Old English fugol, fugel; c. Old Saxon fugal, Old High German fogal]

fowl

(foul)

1. A bird, such as a chicken, duck, or dove, that is raised or hunted for food.

2. In scientific usage, any of various birds having large heavy bodies, short wings, and legs built for running and scratching the ground. Most fowl nest on the ground. The turkey, pheasant, quail, grouse, partridge, and chicken are fowl.

The American Heritage® Student Science Dictionary, Second Edition. Copyright © 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

fowl

, poultry - Chickens, ducks, geese, pheasants, and turkey are fowl in the wild and poultry if domesticated.

fowl

Past participle: fowled
Gerund: fowling

Imperative
fowl
fowl

Present
I fowl
you fowl
he/she/it fowls
we fowl
you fowl
they fowl

Preterite
I fowled
you fowled
he/she/it fowled
we fowled
you fowled
they fowled

Present Continuous
I am fowling
you are fowling
he/she/it is fowling
we are fowling
you are fowling
they are fowling

Present Perfect
I have fowled
you have fowled
he/she/it has fowled
we have fowled
you have fowled
they have fowled

Past Continuous
I was fowling
you were fowling
he/she/it was fowling
we were fowling
you were fowling
they were fowling

Past Perfect
I had fowled
you had fowled
he/she/it had fowled
we had fowled
you had fowled
they had fowled

Future
I will fowl
you will fowl
he/she/it will fowl
we will fowl
you will fowl
they will fowl

Future Perfect
I will have fowled
you will have fowled
he/she/it will have fowled
we will have fowled
you will have fowled
they will have fowled

Future Continuous
I will be fowling
you will be fowling
he/she/it will be fowling
we will be fowling
you will be fowling
they will be fowling

Present Perfect Continuous
I have been fowling
you have been fowling
he/she/it has been fowling
we have been fowling
you have been fowling
they have been fowling

Future Perfect Continuous
I will have been fowling
you will have been fowling
he/she/it will have been fowling
we will have been fowling
you will have been fowling
they will have been fowling

Past Perfect Continuous
I had been fowling
you had been fowling
he/she/it had been fowling
we had been fowling
you had been fowling
they had been fowling

Conditional
I would fowl
you would fowl
he/she/it would fowl
we would fowl
you would fowl
they would fowl

Past Conditional
I would have fowled
you would have fowled
he/she/it would have fowled
we would have fowled
you would have fowled
they would have fowled

Collins English Verb Tables © HarperCollins Publishers 2011

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Switch to new thesaurus

Noun	1.	fowl - a domesticated gallinaceous bird thought to be descended from the red jungle fowl domestic fowl, poultry gallinacean, gallinaceous bird - heavy-bodied largely ground-feeding domestic or game birds Dorking - an English breed of large domestic fowl having five toes (the hind toe doubled) Plymouth Rock - an American breed of domestic fowl Cornish fowl, Cornish - English breed of compact domestic fowl; raised primarily to crossbreed to produce roasters Rock Cornish - small plump hybrid developed by crossbreeding Plymouth Rock and Cornish fowl game fowl - any of several breeds reared for cockfighting cochin, cochin china - Asian breed of large fowl with dense plumage and feathered legs genus Gallus, Gallus - common domestic birds and related forms Gallus gallus, chicken - a domestic fowl bred for flesh or eggs; believed to have been developed from the red jungle fowl bantam - any of various small breeds of fowl Meleagris gallopavo, turkey - large gallinaceous bird with fan-shaped tail; widely domesticated for food guinea fowl, Numida meleagris - a west African bird having dark plumage mottled with white; native to Africa but raised for food in many parts of the world saddle - posterior part of the back of a domestic fowl poultry - flesh of chickens or turkeys or ducks or geese raised for food
	2.	fowl - the flesh of a bird or fowl (wild or domestic) used as food bird bird - warm-blooded egg-laying vertebrates characterized by feathers and forelimbs modified as wings wishbone, wishing bone - the furcula of a domestic fowl poultry - flesh of chickens or turkeys or ducks or geese raised for food wildfowl - flesh of any of a number of wild game birds suitable for food drumstick - the lower joint of the leg of a fowl second joint, thigh - the upper joint of the leg of a fowl wing - the wing of a fowl; "he preferred the drumsticks to the wings" giblet, giblets - edible viscera of a fowl oyster - a small muscle on each side of the back of a fowl parson's nose, pope's nose - the tail of a dressed fowl meat - the flesh of animals (including fishes and birds and snails) used as food dark meat - the flesh of the legs of fowl used as food
Verb	1.	fowl - hunt fowl hunt, hunt down, track down, run - pursue for food or sport (as of wild animals); "Goering often hunted wild boars in Poland"; "The dogs are running deer"; "The Duke hunted in these woods"
	2.	fowl - hunt fowl in the forest grouse - hunt grouse hunt, hunt down, track down, run - pursue for food or sport (as of wild animals); "Goering often hunted wild boars in Poland"; "The dogs are running deer"; "The Duke hunted in these woods"

fowl

noun poultry Ducks and many other animals are fowl.

Related words
adjective gallinaceous
male cock
female hen

Types of fowl

American wigeon or baldpate, Ancona chicken, Andalusian chicken, Australorp chicken, bantam chicken, barnacle goose, Bewick's swan, black swan, blue duck, blue goose, Brahma chicken, brush turkey, bufflehead, Campine chicken, Canada goose, canvasback, Cochin chicken, cock or cockerel, Dorking chicken, duck, eider or eider duck, Faverolle chicken, gadwall, goldeneye, goosander, goose, greylag or greylag goose, Hamburg chicken, harlequin duck, hen, Houdan chicken, Leghorn chicken, magpie goose, mallard, mallee fowl or (Austral.) gnow, mandarin duck, marsh hen, megapode, merganser or sawbill, Minorca chicken, moorhen, Muscovy duck or musk duck, mute swan, nene, New Hampshire chicken, Orpington chicken, paradise duck, pintail, Plymouth Rock chicken, pochard, redhead, Rhode Island Red chicken, ruddy duck, scaup or scaup duck, screamer, sea duck, shelduck, shoveler, smew, snow goose, sultan, Sumatra chicken, Sussex chicken, swan, teal, trumpeter swan, turkey, velvet scoter, whistling swan, whooper or whooper swan, wigeon or widgeon, wood duck, Wyandotte chicken

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

Translations

طَيْر، دجاجَه

drůbež

fjerkræ

Geflügel Huhn Vogel

oiseau de basse-cour volaille

baromfimadárszárnyasvíziszárnyas

fugl

cacciagione gallina pollame pollo selvaggina

naminis paukštis

mājputns

dróbptactwo

kümes hayvanı

fowl

[faʊl]

A. N

1. (= hens etc) (collective n) → aves fpl de corral; (= one bird) → ave f de corral; (served as food) → ave f

2. (archaic) (= bird in general) → ave f
the fowls of the air → las aves

B. CPD fowl pest N → peste f aviar

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

fowl

[ˈfaʊl] n (= birds) → volaille f

fowl

(= poultry) → Geflügel nt; (= one bird) → Huhn nt → /Gans f → /Truthahn m → etc; to keep fowl → Hühner etc halten; roast fowl (Cook) → Brathuhn nt

the fowls of the air (liter) → die Vögel des Himmels

vi (also to go fowling) → auf Vogeljagd gehen

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

fowl

[faʊl] n → pollame m, volatile m

fowl

(faul) – plurals fowl ~fowls – noun

a bird, especially domestic, eg hens, ducks, geese etc. He keeps fowls and a few pigs.

References in classic literature ?

"Well, a fowl, fish, game, -- it signifies little, so that I eat."

View in context

They are perhaps not coming at all, and have turned in somewhere.' Then she said: 'Well, Gretel, enjoy yourself, one fowl has been cut into, take another drink, and eat it up entirely; when it is eaten you will have some peace, why should God's good gifts be spoilt?' So she ran into the cellar again, took an enormous drink and ate up the one chicken in great glee.

View in context

The poor fowl was thin, and covered with one of those thick, bristly skins through which the teeth cannot penetrate with all their efforts.

View in context

And Sophia, herself, after some little consideration, began to dissect the fowl, which she found to be as full of eggs as George had reported it.

View in context

"That little fowl pays you a high compliment!" said a voice behind Phoebe.

View in context

I have got a stewed steak - which is of home preparation - and a cold roast fowl - which is from the cook's-shop.

View in context

"You were only an ordinary fellow as an eagle; but as an old rooster you are a fowl of incomparable distinction.

View in context

A POLITICIAN seeing a fat Turkey which he wanted for dinner, baited a hook with a grain of corn and dragged it before the fowl at the end of a long and almost invisible line.

View in context

"And if he wished them a skinny fowl," said Celia, "that would not be nice.

View in context

As for food, I yet saw not which way to supply myself, except that I had seen two or three creatures like hares run out of the wood where I shot the fowl.

View in context

Much I marvelled this ungainly fowl to hear discourse so plainly, Though its answer little meaning -- little relevancy bore; For we cannot help agreeing that no living human being Ever yet was blessed with seeing bird above his chamber door -- Bird or beast upon the sculptured bust above his chamber door, With such name as "Nevermore."

View in context

Much I marvelled this ungainly fowl to hear discourse so plainly, Though its answer little meaning--little relevancy bore; For we cannot help agreeing that no living human being Ever yet was blessed with seeing bird above his chamber door-- Bird or beast upon the sculptured bust above his chamber door, With such name as "Nevermore."

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