Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. a prostitute.

1577		Misogonus in Farmer (1906) II iv: cac.: The vicar of St. Fools, I am sure, he would brave: To that daunce of all other I see he is bent. sir john: Faith, no! I had rather have Shaking o’ th’ sheets [...] or Catching of quails.
c.1602		Shakespeare Troilus and Cressida V i: Here’s Agamemnon, an honest fellow enough, and one that loves quails.
1614		Jonson Bartholomew Fair IV v: Here will be ’Zekiel Edgworth, and three or four hallants [...] and I ha’ neither plover nor quail for ’em.
1627		J. Taylor ‘An Armado’ in Works (1869) I 78: They had likewise store of fowle, as Gull, Goose, Widgeon, Woodcocke, Buzzard, Owles, Cormorants, Quailes, Railes, Cuckooes, Wag-tailes, Ring-tailes, and Bittoures.
1636		J. Shirley Duke’s Mistress II i: If he find you quail-catching, He has power enough to cool your blood and her’s.
1696		Motteux (trans.) Gargantua and Pantagruel (1927) II Bk IV 235: Several coated quails, and laced mutton, waggishly singing: [...] ‘tools without their hafts are useless lumber’.
1840		Sun (N.Y.) 26 Feb. n.p.: [Justice Wyman gave] an appropriate lecture on the white gentleman’s perversity of taste and his penchant for ‘woolly headed quails’.
1942		N. Algren Never Come Morning (1988) 207: The best-lookin’ little blonde whore you ever lay eye on [...] followed me clean up to Chi — imagine a quail like that?
1957		(con. 1943) A. Myrer Big War 225: You wait [...] Be shacked up with some delectable gook quail in seven.
1966		Trimble 5000 Adult Sex Words and Phrases.
1973		R. Todasco Intelligent Woman’s Guide to Dirty Words.
1989		H. Rawson Dict. of Invective (1991) 317: quail. [...] Sometimes a prostitute.

2. (US tramp) an ‘old maid’.

1859		Matsell Vocabulum 71: quail An old maid.
1895		C. Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 63: Quail, an old maid.
1901		Argus (Melbourne) 20 Sept. 6/4: A widow is known to him as a [...] mantrap or an ace of spades, while an old maid is generally a quail.
1927		‘Jargon of the Und.’ in DN V 460: Quail, An old maid.
1931		Irwin Amer. Tramp and Und. Sl. 153: Quail.–An old maid, probably since most of them are easily frightened by tramps or beggars.

3. (also keil) a young woman, poss. under the age of consent.

1859		Yale Literary Mag. XXIV 291: The freshman heareth of ‘Quails,’ he dresseth himself in fine linen, he seeketh to flirt with ye ‘quails,’ but they know him not [DA].
1900		E.H. Babbitt ‘College Words and Phrases’ in DN II:i 53: quail, n. A young woman student. [...] quail-roost, n. The dormitory for women.
1911		Indianpolis Star 2 Aug. 5: Stage hands, who were anxious to learn the prevailing words of slang of the season, stood with their jaws agape during the afternoon when the chorus girls twisted the English language into hard knots for their benefit. [...] ‘We are not going to be chorus girls, dears, warblers, chickens, quails or squabs any longer. The correct dope this year is [...] quims.’.
1930		J.T. Farrell ‘Jo-Jo’ in Short Stories (1937) 141: ‘Well, Red, how’s your quail?’ asked Jake. [...] ‘Any luck?’ ‘No . . . I couldn’t get my hand above the garter,’ Red answered.
1940		Pittsburgh Courier (PA) 27 Apr. 7/6: They would boot the young keil to the fact that you are hep.
1942		R.L. Bellem ‘Daughter of Murder’ Dan Turner – Hollywood Detective Dec. 🌐 The quail had no business being where she was.
1954		J. Steinbeck Sweet Thursday (1955) 49: You got a quail there [...] That’s Mary trouble if I ever I seen it.
1962		Ragen & Finston World’s Toughest Prison 814: quail – An underage girl; a ‘chicken-hearted’ man.
1971		E.E. Landy Underground Dict. (1972).
1989		H. Rawson Dict. of Invective (1991) 13: Birds are particularly popular in the lexicon of animal derogation, especially as insults for the human female, a.k.a. chicken, goose, hen, quail [etc].
1990		(con. early 1950s) J. Ellroy L.A. Confidential 55: And look, Miller’s bird-dogging your quail.
2001		(con. 1964–8) J. Ellroy Cold Six Thousand 7: JFK loved Dallas quail.

4. (US) an order of chicken stew.

1888

N.Y. Herald 1 Apr. 9/6: During his stay in the restaurant the reporter learned several things he never knew [...] That ‘quail’ meant chicken stew.

5. (US gay) an attractive young man [note Jesus-la-Caille (1914) (‘Jesus the Quail’), a novel by François Carco featuring a gay pimp].

1965		Guild Dict. Homosexual Terms 38: quail (n.): A young boy, as seen by a lustful homosexual.
1972		B. Rodgers Queens’ Vernacular.