Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Fowl

Fowl (foul), n. Instead of the pl. Fowls the singular is often used collectively. [OE. foul, fowel, foghel, fuhel, fugel, AS. fugol; akin to OS. fugal D. & G. vogel, OHG. fogal, Icel. & Dan. fugl, Sw. fogel, fågel, Goth. fugls; of unknown origin, possibly by loss of l, from the root of E. fly, or akin to E. fox, as being a tailed animal.] 1. Any bird; esp., any large edible bird.

Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air. Gen. i. 26.

Behold the fowls of the air; for they sow not. Matt. vi. 26.

Like a flight of fowl Scattered by winds and high tempestuous gusts. Shak.

2. Any domesticated bird used as food, as a hen, turkey, duck; in a more restricted sense, the common domestic cock or hen (Gallus domesticus).

Barndoor fowl, or Barnyard fowl, a fowl that frequents the barnyard; the common domestic cock or hen.

Fowl, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Fowled; p. pr. & vb. n. Fowling.] To catch or kill wild fowl, for game or food, as by shooting, or by decoys, nets, etc.

Such persons as may lawfully hunt, fish, or fowl. Blackstone.

Fowling piece, a light gun with smooth bore, adapted for the use of small shot in killing birds or small quadrupeds.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty.