tail
Part of speech: noun
verb
adj
Morphological type: simple
Topics: anatomy
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Etymology: Etymology tree
Proto-Germanic *taglą
Proto-West Germanic *tagl
Old English tæġl
Middle English tayl
English tail
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.
Inflected forms:
form: tails
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: tails
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: tailing
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: tailed
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: tailed
pos: verb
tags: past
Senses:
gloss: The caudal appendage of an animal that is attached to their posterior and near the anus or cloaca.
pos: noun
examples: Most primates have a tail and fangs.
gloss: 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.
pos: noun
examples: Duretus writes a great praise of the Distill'd waters of those tails that hang on Willow Trees.
Using a thin tapestry needle, weave the warp tails back into the fabric in a warpwise direction and trim off the excess.
gloss: The back, last, lower, or inferior part of anything.
pos: noun
gloss: The feathers attached to the pygostyle of a bird.
pos: noun
gloss: The tail-end of any object.
pos: noun
examples: And the Lord shall make thee the head, and not the taile, […]
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.
gloss: The rear structure of an aircraft, the empennage.
pos: noun
gloss: The visible stream of dust and gases blown from a comet by the solar wind.
pos: noun
gloss: The latter part of a time period or event, or (collectively) persons or objects represented in this part.
pos: noun
gloss: The part of a distribution most distant from the mode.
pos: noun
examples: long tail
gloss: One who surreptitiously follows another.
pos: noun
gloss: The lower order of batsmen in the batting order, usually specialist bowlers.
pos: noun
gloss: The lower loop of the letters in the Roman alphabet, as in g, q or y.
pos: noun
gloss: The side of a coin not bearing the head; normally the side on which the monetary value of the coin is indicated; the reverse.
pos: noun
tags: in-plural
gloss: All the last terms of a sequence, from some term on.
pos: noun
examples: A sequence (a#95;n) is said to be frequently 0 if every tail of the sequence contains 0.
gloss: The buttocks or backside.
pos: noun
tags: US
colloquial
examples: 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.
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[…].
gloss: The penis of a person or animal.
pos: noun
tags: slang
gloss: Sexual intercourse.
pos: noun
tags: slang
uncountable
examples: 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.
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 Braille
gloss: The stern; the back of the kayak.
pos: noun
gloss: A train or company of attendants; a retinue.
pos: noun
examples: Ah! if you Saxon Duinhé-wassal (English gentleman) saw but the chief with his tail on. […] that is, with all his usual followers
gloss: The distal tendon of a muscle.
pos: noun
gloss: A filamentous projection on the tornal section of each hind wing of certain butterflies.
pos: noun
gloss: A downy or feathery appendage of certain achens, formed of the permanent elongated style.
pos: noun
gloss: 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.
pos: noun
gloss: One of the strips at the end of a bandage formed by splitting the bandage one or more times.
pos: noun
gloss: A rope spliced to the strap of a block, by which it may be lashed to anything.
pos: noun
gloss: The part of a note which runs perpendicularly upward or downward from the head; the stem.
pos: noun
gloss: A tailing.
pos: noun
gloss: The bottom or lower portion of a member or part such as a slate or tile.
pos: noun
gloss: A tailcoat.
pos: noun
tags: colloquial
dated
gloss: Synonym of pigtail (“a short length of twisted electrical wire”).
pos: noun
gloss: The final fraction of a distillation run, typically containing impurities and fusel oils.
pos: noun
gloss: To hold by the end; said of a timber when it rests upon a wall or other support; with in or into
pos: verb
gloss: To swing with the stern in a certain direction; said of a vessel at anchor.
pos: verb
examples: This vessel tails downstream.
gloss: To follow or hang to, like a tail; to be attached closely to, as that which can not be evaded.
pos: verb
examples: Nevertheless his bond of two thousand pounds, wherewith he was tailed, continued uncancelled.
gloss: To follow and observe surreptitiously.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: Tail that car!
gloss: To pull or draw by the tail.
pos: verb
examples: The conqu'ring foe they soon afailid,
First Trulla stav'd, and Cerdon tail'd
gloss: Limited; abridged; reduced; curtailed.
pos: adj
examples: estate tail
Related words: 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
Derived words: 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
Translations:
lang: Arabic
word: ذَنَب
roman: ḏanab
lang: Dutch
word: achtervolger
lang: Finnish
word: varjostaja
lang: Finnish
word: varjo
lang: Japanese
word: 尾行者
roman: bikōsha
lang: Norwegian Bokmål
word: forfølger
lang: Russian
word: хвост
roman: xvost
lang: Swedish
word: förföljare
lang: Telugu
word: తోక
roman: tōka
lang: Czech
word: ocas
lang: Finnish
word: häntä
lang: French
word: queue
lang: German
word: Schwanz
lang: Hungarian
word: farok
lang: Middle English
word: tayl
lang: Spanish
word: cola
lang: Bulgarian
word: следвам
roman: sledvam
lang: Chinese Mandarin
word: 尾隨 /尾随
roman: wěisuí
lang: Czech
word: sledovat
lang: Dutch
word: schaduwen
lang: Dutch
word: beschatten
lang: Esperanto
word: gvatsekvi
lang: Finnish
word: varjostaa
lang: German
word: beschatten
lang: Hebrew
word: זינב
roman: zinév
lang: Hungarian
word: követ
lang: Italian
word: pedinare
lang: Japanese
word: 尾行する
roman: bikō suru
lang: Macedonian
word: сле́ди
roman: slédi
lang: Norwegian
word: forfølge
lang: Norwegian
word: skygge
lang: Portuguese
word: seguir
lang: Slovak
word: sledovať
lang: Vietnamese
word: theo đuôi