Drew back in fear

Usage examples of quailed.

Then, twice, when she had made a choice, and brought her resolution to the point of speech, she quailed, shrinking, her ears tingling, her whole being protesting against the degradation.

As he came into the high room, and saw the two intelligence agents waiting for him, near the huge fireplace, their faces lit more by the log fire than the lamps or the light from the distant window, he quailed as if he were an emperor without clothes.

Anywhere - literally anywhere, with such a passport He quailed inwardly.