Online dictionaryOnline dictionary
Synonyms, antonyms, pronunciation

  Home
English Dictionary      examples: 'day', 'get rid of', 'New York Bay'




Tail   /teɪl/   Listen
noun
Tail  n.  (Law) Limitation; abridgment.
Estate in tail, a limited, abridged, or reduced fee; an estate limited to certain heirs, and from which the other heirs are precluded; called also estate tail.



Tail  n.  
1.
(Zool.) The terminal, and usually flexible, posterior appendage of an animal. Note: The tail of mammals and reptiles contains a series of movable vertebrae, and is covered with flesh and hairs or scales like those of other parts of the body. The tail of existing birds consists of several more or less consolidated vertebrae which supports a fanlike group of quills to which the term tail is more particularly applied. The tail of fishes consists of the tapering hind portion of the body ending in a caudal fin. The term tail is sometimes applied to the entire abdomen of a crustacean or insect, and sometimes to the terminal piece or pygidium alone.
2.
Any long, flexible terminal appendage; whatever resembles, in shape or position, the tail of an animal, as a catkin. "Doretus writes a great praise of the distilled waters of those tails that hang on willow trees."
3.
Hence, the back, last, lower, or inferior part of anything, as opposed to the head, or the superior part. "The Lord will make thee the head, and not the tail."
4.
A train or company of attendants; a retinue. ""Ah," said he, "if you saw but the chief with his tail on.""
5.
The side of a coin opposite to that which bears the head, effigy, or date; the reverse; rarely used except in the expression "heads or tails," employed when a coin is thrown up for the purpose of deciding some point by its fall.
6.
(Anat.) The distal tendon of a muscle.
7.
(Bot.) A downy or feathery appendage to certain achenes. It is formed of the permanent elongated style.
8.
(Surg.)
(a)
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.
(b)
One of the strips at the end of a bandage formed by splitting the bandage one or more times.
9.
(Naut.) A rope spliced to the strap of a block, by which it may be lashed to anything.
10.
(Mus.) The part of a note which runs perpendicularly upward or downward from the head; the stem.
11.
pl. Same as Tailing, 4.
12.
(Arch.) The bottom or lower portion of a member or part, as a slate or tile.
13.
pl. (Mining) See Tailing, n., 5.
14.
(Astronomy) The long visible stream of gases, ions, or dust particles extending from the head of a comet in the direction opposite to the sun.
15.
pl. (Rope Making) In some forms of rope-laying machine, pieces of rope attached to the iron bar passing through the grooven wooden top containing the strands, for wrapping around the rope to be laid.
16.
pl. A tailed coat; a tail coat. (Colloq. or Dial.)
17.
(Aeronautics) In airplanes, an airfoil or group of airfoils used at the rear to confer stability.
18.
The buttocks. (slang or vulgar)
19.
Sexual intercourse, or a woman used for sexual intercourse; as, to get some tail; to find a piece of tail. See also tailing 3. (slang and vulgar)
Tail beam. (Arch.) Same as Tailpiece.
Tail coverts (Zool.), the feathers which cover the bases of the tail quills. They are sometimes much longer than the quills, and form elegant plumes. Those above the quills are called the upper tail coverts, and those below, the under tail coverts.
Tail end, the latter end; the termination; as, the tail end of a contest. (Colloq.)
Tail joist. (Arch.) Same as Tailpiece.
Tail of a comet (Astron.), a luminous train extending from the nucleus or body, often to a great distance, and usually in a direction opposite to the sun.
Tail of a gale (Naut.), the latter part of it, when the wind has greatly abated.
Tail of a lock (on a canal), the lower end, or entrance into the lower pond.
Tail of the trenches (Fort.), the post where the besiegers begin to break ground, and cover themselves from the fire of the place, in advancing the lines of approach.
Tail spindle, the spindle of the tailstock of a turning lathe; called also dead spindle.
To turn tail, to run away; to flee. "Would she turn tail to the heron, and fly quite out another way; but all was to return in a higher pitch."



verb
Tail  v. t.  
1.
To follow or hang to, like a tail; to be attached closely to, as that which can not be evaded. (Obs.) "Nevertheless his bond of two thousand pounds, wherewith he was tailed, continued uncanceled, and was called on the next Parliament."
2.
To pull or draw by the tail. (R.)
To tail in or To tail on (Arch.), to fasten by one of the ends into a wall or some other support; as, to tail in a timber.



Tail  v. i.  
1.
(Arch.) To hold by the end; said of a timber when it rests upon a wall or other support; with in or into.
2.
(Naut.) To swing with the stern in a certain direction; said of a vessel at anchor; as, this vessel tails down stream.
Tail on. (Naut.) See Tally on, under Tally.



adjective
Tail  adj.  (Law) Limited; abridged; reduced; curtailed; as, estate tail.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








Advanced search
     Find words:
Starting with
Ending with
Containing
Matching a pattern  

Synonyms
Antonyms
Quotes
Words linked to  

only single words



Share |
Add this dictionary
to your browser search bar





"Tail" Quotes from Famous Books



... Donald Bean Lean. With a quick movement she showed him the edges of a bundle of papers which she as swiftly concealed. She then laid her finger on her lips, and glided away to assist old Janet, his nurse, in packing his saddle-bags. With the tail of his eye, however, Edward saw the girl fold the papers among his linen without being observed by the others. This being done, she took no further notice of him whatever, except that just at the last, as she ...
— Red Cap Tales - Stolen from the Treasure Chest of the Wizard of the North • Samuel Rutherford Crockett

... as to the best, and least troublesome kind of pigeon to be kept, we should say, the finest and most hardy of the common kind, which are usually found in the collections throughout the country. But there are many fancy breeds—such as the fan-tail, the powter, the tumbler, the ruffler, and perhaps another variety or two—all pretty birds, and each distinct in their appearance, and in some of their domestic habits. The most beautiful of the pigeon ...
— Rural Architecture - Being a Complete Description of Farm Houses, Cottages, and Out Buildings • Lewis Falley Allen

... the rest were to remain in the whaleboat and see the treasure safe. A tackle was passed down to them; to this they made fast the invaluable chest, and gave the word to heave. But the unexpected weight brought the hand at the tackle to a stand; two others ran to tail on and help him, and the thing caught the eye ...
— The Wrecker • Robert Louis Stevenson and Lloyd Osbourne

... and a serpent. The enemies, after cruel wounds inflicted, stood for a time glaring on each other. A great cloud surrounded them, and then a wonderful metamorphosis began. Each creature was transfigured into the likeness of its antagonist. The serpent's tail divided into two legs; the man's legs intertwined themselves into a tail. The body of the serpent put forth arms; the arms of the man shrank into his body. At length the serpent stood up a man, and spake; the man sank down a serpent, and glided hissing away."[1] ...
— Violence and the Labor Movement • Robert Hunter

... feet in front of the frightened pony lay coiled a gigantic rattlesnake, its ugly head and tail raised and its rattles singing ominously. Two more steps and the pony would have been ...
— The Boy Chums in the Forest - or Hunting for Plume Birds in the Florida Everglades • Wilmer M. Ely


More quotes...



Copyright © 2025 Dictionary One.com