fowl / foul/ • n. (pl. same or fowls ) (also domestic fowl) a gallinaceous bird kept chiefly for its eggs and flesh; a domestic cock or hen. ∎  any other domesticated bird kept for its eggs or flesh, e.g., the turkey, duck, goose, and guineafowl. ∎  the flesh of birds, esp. of the domestic cock or hen, as food; poultry. ∎  birds collectively, esp. as the quarry of hunters. ∎ archaic a bird.

fowl (arch., exc. in wild-fowl) bird OE.; domestic cock or hen XVI. OE. fugol = OS. fugal, OHG. fogal (Du., G. vogel), ON. fugl, Goth. fugls :- Gmc. *foʒlaz, *fuʒlaz, perh. dissim. form of *fluʒlaz, f. *fluz-, *fleuʒ- FLY2.
Hence fowler OE. fug(e)lere, f. fug(e)lian catch wild-fowl.

fowl Term applied to domestic birds, such as chicken or turkey, and game such as pheasant and duck. See also poultry