tail meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

tail

noun

US, UK /ˈteɪ̯l/ · /ˈteːl/

Etymology

From Middle English tail, tayl, teil, from Old English tæġl (“tail”), from Proto-West Germanic *tagl, from Proto-Germanic *taglą (“hair, fiber; hair of a tail”), from Proto-Indo-European *doḱ- (“hair of the tail”), from Proto-Indo-European *deḱ- (“to tear, fray, shred”). Cognate with Scots tail (“tail”), Saterland Frisian Tail (“tail, end”), West Frisian teil (“tail”), Dutch teil (“tail, haulm, blade”), Low German Tagel (“twisted scourge, whip of thongs and ropes; end of a rope”), German Zagel (“tail”), dialectal Danish tavl (“hair of the tail”), Swedish tagel (“hair of the tail, horsehair”), Norwegian tagl (“tail”), Icelandic tagl (“tail, horsetail, ponytail”), Gothic 𐍄𐌰𐌲𐌻 (tagl, “hair”). In some senses, apparently by a generalization of the usual opposition between head and tail.

31 senses

1The caudal appendage of an animal that is attached to…
2An object or part of an object resembling a tail in…
3The back, last, lower, or inferior part of anything.
4The feathers attached to the pygostyle of a bird.
5The tail-end of any object.
6The rear structure of an aircraft, the empennage.
7The visible stream of dust and gases blown from a comet…
8The latter part of a time period or event, or…
9The part of a distribution most distant from the mode.
10One who surreptitiously follows another.
11The lower order of batsmen in the batting order, usually…
12The lower loop of the letters in the Roman alphabet, as…
13The side of a coin not bearing the head; normally the…
14All the last terms of a sequence, from some term on.
15The buttocks or backside.
16The penis of a person or animal.
17Sexual intercourse.
18The stern; the back of the kayak.
19A train or company of attendants; a retinue.
20The distal tendon of a muscle.
21A filamentous projection on the tornal section of each…
22A downy or feathery appendage of certain achens, formed…
23A portion of an incision, at its beginning or end, which…
24One of the strips at the end of a bandage formed by…
25A rope spliced to the strap of a block, by which it may…
26The part of a note which runs perpendicularly upward or…
27A tailing.
28The bottom or lower portion of a member or part such as…
29A tailcoat.
30Synonym of pigtail (“a short length of twisted electrical wire”).
31The final fraction of a distillation run, typically…

Anatomy, Medicine, Sciences The caudal appendage of an animal that is attached to their posterior and near the anus or cloaca.

Most primates have a tail and fangs.

An object or part of an object resembling a tail in shape, such as the thongs on a cat-o'-nine-tails; a strand of material hanging from something.

Duretus writes a great praise of the Distill'd waters of those tails that hang on Willow Trees.1672, Gideon Harvey, Morbus Anglicus: or the Anatomy of Consumptions, page 112:
Using a thin tapestry needle, weave the warp tails back into the fabric in a warpwise direction and trim off the excess.2026, Emily Barth, “Woolly Cocoon Bags”, in Handwoven, volume XLVII, number 1, page 37:

The back, last, lower, or inferior part of anything.

The feathers attached to the pygostyle of a bird.

The tail-end of any object.

And the Lord shall make thee the head, and not the taile, […]1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Deuteronomy 28:13:
It was soon over, and the unmoved magistrate calmly ordained that Deborah Williams, Elizabeth and Faith Wilson, should be tied to a cart's tail, and thus led through the principal streets of the town, receiving during their progress twenty lashes each, well laid on, upon the naked back.1862, Ballou's Dollar Monthly Magazine, volume 16, page 83:

The rear structure of an aircraft, the empennage.

Astronomy, Natural sciences The visible stream of dust and gases blown from a comet by the solar wind.

The latter part of a time period or event, or (collectively) persons or objects represented in this part.

Mathematics, Sciences, Statistics The part of a distribution most distant from the mode.

long tail

One who surreptitiously follows another.

Ball games, Cricket, Games, Hobbies, Lifestyle, Sports The lower order of batsmen in the batting order, usually specialist bowlers.

Media, Publishing, Typography The lower loop of the letters in the Roman alphabet, as in g, q or y.

In plural The side of a coin not bearing the head; normally the side on which the monetary value of the coin is indicated; the reverse.

Mathematics, Sciences All the last terms of a sequence, from some term on.

A sequence (a#95;n) is said to be frequently 0 if every tail of the sequence contains 0.

US, Colloquial The buttocks or backside.

By Goddis sydes, syns I her thyder broughte, / She hath gote me more money with her tayle / Than hath some shyppe that into Bordews sayle.1499, John Skelton, The Bowge of Courte:
They were wont to wipe their tailes [translating cul] (this vaine superstition of words must be left unto women) with a sponge, and that's the reason why Spongia in Latine is counted an obscene word[…].1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 49, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book I, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:

Slang The penis of a person or animal.

Slang Sexual intercourse.

I'm gonna get me some tail tonight.
“Innarested in a little tail t’night?” “Me?” I said. Which was a very dumb answer, but it’s quite embarrassing when somebody comes right up and asks you a question like that.1951 July 16, J[erome] D[avid] Salinger, chapter 13, in The Catcher in the Rye, Boston, Mass.: Little, Brown and Company, →OCLC:

1 more example

On the bosom of young Abigail Was written the price of her tail And on her behind For the use of the blind Was the same information in Braille1971, “Abigail”, in Live at the Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh, performed by The Corries:

The stern; the back of the kayak.

A train or company of attendants; a retinue.

Ah! if you Saxon Duinhé-wassal (English gentleman) saw but the chief with his tail on. […] that is, with all his usual followers1814, Walter Scott, Waverley: Or, 'Tis Sixty Years Since, page 238:

Anatomy, Medicine, Sciences The distal tendon of a muscle.

Biology, Entomology, Natural sciences A filamentous projection on the tornal section of each hind wing of certain butterflies.

A downy or feathery appendage of certain achens, formed of the permanent elongated style.

Medicine, Sciences, Surgery A portion of an incision, at its beginning or end, which does not go through the whole thickness of the skin, and is more painful than a complete incision; called also tailing.

One of the strips at the end of a bandage formed by splitting the bandage one or more times.

Nautical, Transport A rope spliced to the strap of a block, by which it may be lashed to anything.

Entertainment, Lifestyle, Music The part of a note which runs perpendicularly upward or downward from the head; the stem.

Business, Mining A tailing.

Architecture The bottom or lower portion of a member or part such as a slate or tile.

Colloquial, Dated A tailcoat.

Business, Electrical, Electrical engineering, Electricity, Electromagnetism, Energy, Engineering, Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Physics Synonym of pigtail (“a short length of twisted electrical wire”).

Chemistry, Natural sciences, Physical sciences The final fraction of a distillation run, typically containing impurities and fusel oils.

Derived terms: 376 terms
antitail, astrotail, at the tail, bangtail, bang tail, bang-tail, barbtail, beaver tail, beavertail, betail, bigtail, blue rat's tail, bluetail, boattail, bobtail, bonytail, box tail, bristle-tail, bristletail, broadtail, broken tail, broomtail, browntail, brown-tail moth, bucktail, burro's tail, Cameroon scaly-tail, cat-o'-nine-tails, catstail, cattail, cat-tail sedge, chase one's own tail, chase tail, cold tail, comet tail, cottontail, cowtail, cross-tail, culvertail, dead tail, de-tail, devil's tail, dogstail, dog's-tail grass, dogtail, dovetail, drabble-tail, draggle-tail, dragon's tail, ducktail, emutail, e-tail, fantail, fat-tail, fat tail, feathertail, fee tail, filetail, firetail, fishtail, fish tail, fish-tail, flagtail, flangetail, flat-tail sea snake, flickertail, flufftail, forcepstail, forktail, foxtail, freetail, frozen tail, fuzztail, gilt-tail, globetail, goldentail, goldtail, grow a tail, hairtail, hangtail, hardtail, hare's-tail, haul tail, have a tiger by the tail, have one's tail up, have the tiger by the tail, have the world by the tail on a downhill pull, heads or tails, head to tail, heavy tail, heliotail, hightail, high-tail, high-tail it, hooktail, horntail, horsetail, horse tail, in two shakes of a cow's tail, in two shakes of a dog's tail, in two shakes of a duck's tail, in two shakes of a lamb's tail, jollytail, kick some tail, kicktail, kick tail, lamb's tails, lashtail, lay salt on someone's tail, lemur-tail seahorse, like a dog with two tails, limber tail, limber tail syndrome, lion's tail, lizard's tail, lizard tail, lobster-tail pot, longtail, long-tail boat, long-tail Covid, looptail, lyretail, mackerel sky and mare's-tails make lofty ships carry low sails, mackerel sky and mare's-tails make tall ships carry low sails, make head nor tail of, make head or tail of, make neither head nor tail of, mare's-tail, mare's tail, mares' tails, metaltail, mill tail, monkey tail, monkey tail tree, mousetail, nail-tail wallaby, needletail, nose to tail, on one's tail, on someone's tail, oxtail, peacock's tail, pentail, petaltail, petticoat tail, piece of tail, pigtail, pincertail, pintail, pin the tail on the donkey, ploughtail, plowtail, plume tail, ponytail, pony tail, pseudotail, pull the devil by the tail, put salt on someone's tail, quaketail, quilltail, raccoon tail, racket-tail, racquet-tail, rat-tail, rat-tail file, rat-tail radish, rat-tail splice, redtail, red tail disease, ribbontail, ringtail, ring-tailed, rooster-tail, roostertail, roughtail, rubytail, scaletail, scissorstail, scissortail, sharptail, shavetail, sheartail, sheath-tail bat, shieldtail, shirt-tail, shorttail, silktail, silvertail, singletail, skunk tail, snake tail, Softail, softtail, spadetail, spatuletail, spiketail, spindletail, spinetail, split-tail, spread tail, sprigtail, springtail, squaretail, squirreltail, stifftail, sting in the tail, streamertail, stripetail, stubtail, swallowtail, swallow-tail, swimmer's tail, swingletail, swingtail, swordtail, tagtail, tailable, tailache, tail away, tailback, tailband, tail-bay, tail-beam, tailbeat, tail between one's legs, tailblock, tail block, tailboard, tailbone, tail bone, tail boom, tailbud, tailbutter, tail-buzzer, tail call, tail club, tailcoat, tail cone, tailcord, tailcuff, tailcup, tail down, tail dragger, taildragger, tail-end, tailend, tail end, tail-ender, tailer, taileron, tail event, tailfan, tailfeather, tailfin, tailfirst, tail flap, tailflip, tailflipping, tailforemost, tailgate, Tailgate, tail grape, tailgroup, tail gunner, tail-gut, tail gut, tailgut, tailhead, tailhole, tailhook, tail in, tailism, tailjob, taillamp, tail lamp, tailless, tail lift, taillight, taillike, tail merging, tailmost, tail-napkin, tail number, tailnumber, tail-off, tail off, tail packing, tail pad, tailpiece, tailpin, tailpipe, tailplane, tail plug, tail-pod radish, tail-pole, tail pole, tail question, tailrace, tail recursion, tail recursive, tail rhyme, tailride, tail risk, tail rotor, tail-shedding, tailshield, tailsitter, tailskid, tail-skid, tail slate, tailslide, tail slide, tailspin, tailspot, tail stall, tailstand, tailstock, tailstrike, tailswing, tail swing, tail tap, tail valve, tail vein, tail-wagger, tailward, tailwards, tailwater, tailwheel, tailwhip, tail wind, tailwind, tailwise, tapertail, tapetail, teeter-tail, teeth-to-tail ratio, the cow knows not the worth of its tail till it loses it, the tail wags the dog, thistletail, thorntail, threadtail, tickle the dragon's tail, tiger tail, tigertail, tiger tail seahorse, top and tail, top to tail, trendle-tail, trindle-tail, triple-tail, tripletail, trundletail, trust someone as far as one could fling a bull by the tail, T-tail, turkey tail, turntail, twintail, undertail, veiltail, wagtail, wag-tail dance, wax someone's tail, wedgetail, whale's tail, whale tail, whiptail, whitetail, white-tailed hawk, wholetail, wiretail, with one's tail up, work one's tail off, work someone's tail off, wrentail, wrytail, yellowtail
Related terms: cat-o'-nine-tails, chase one's tail, have the world by the tail, Otter Tail County, tail covert, tail feather, tail fin, tail light, tail wagging the dog, turn tail, caudal
Hyponyms: coattail, cocktail, magnetotail, pigtail, rattail, shirttail

tail

verb

Etymology

Architecture To hold by the end; said of a timber when it rests upon a wall or other support; with in or into

Nautical, Transport To swing with the stern in a certain direction; said of a vessel at anchor.

This vessel tails downstream.

To follow or hang to, like a tail; to be attached closely to, as that which can not be evaded.

Nevertheless his bond of two thousand pounds, wherewith he was tailed, continued uncancelled.1655, Thomas Fuller, The Church-history of Britain; […], London: […] Iohn Williams […], →OCLC, (please specify |book=I to XI):

To follow and observe surreptitiously.

Tail that car!

To pull or draw by the tail.

The conqu'ring foe they soon afailid, First Trulla stav'd, and Cerdon tail'd1662 (indicated as 1663), [Samuel Butler], “[The First Part of Hudibras]”, in Hudibras. The First and Second Parts. […], London: […] John Martyn and Henry Herringman, […], published 1678; republished in A[lfred] R[ayney] Waller, editor, Hudibras: Written in the Time of the Late Wars, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: University Press, 1905, →OCLC:

tail

adj

Etymology From Anglo-Norman, probably from a shortened form of entail.

Law Limited; abridged; reduced; curtailed.

estate tail

tail

noun

Etymology From Anglo-Norman, probably from a shortened form of entail.

Law Limitation of inheritance to certain heirs.

tail male
in tail

Related terms: entail

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