Tail
[teɪl] or [tel]
Definition
(noun.) the posterior part of the body of a vertebrate especially when elongated and extending beyond the trunk or main part of the body.
(noun.) the rear part of an aircraft.
(noun.) (usually plural) the reverse side of a coin that does not bear the representation of a person's head.
(noun.) a spy employed to follow someone and report their movements.
(noun.) any projection that resembles the tail of an animal.
(verb.) remove the stalk of fruits or berries.
Edited by Ivan--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) Limitation; abridgment.
(a.) Limited; abridged; reduced; curtailed; as, estate tail.
(n.) The terminal, and usually flexible, posterior appendage of an animal.
(n.) Any long, flexible terminal appendage; whatever resembles, in shape or position, the tail of an animal, as a catkin.
(n.) Hence, the back, last, lower, or inferior part of anything, -- as opposed to the head, or the superior part.
(n.) A train or company of attendants; a retinue.
(n.) 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.
(n.) The distal tendon of a muscle.
(n.) A downy or feathery appendage to certain achenes. It is formed of the permanent elongated style.
(n.) 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.
(n.) One of the strips at the end of a bandage formed by splitting the bandage one or more times.
(n.) A rope spliced to the strap of a block, by which it may be lashed to anything.
(n.) The part of a note which runs perpendicularly upward or downward from the head; the stem.
(n.) Same as Tailing, 4.
(n.) The bottom or lower portion of a member or part, as a slate or tile.
(n.) See Tailing, n., 5.
(v. t.) To follow or hang to, like a tail; to be attached closely to, as that which can not be evaded.
(v. t.) To pull or draw by the tail.
(v. i.) To hold by the end; -- said of a timber when it rests upon a wall or other support; -- with in or into.
(v. i.) To swing with the stern in a certain direction; -- said of a vessel at anchor; as, this vessel tails down stream.
Edited by Craig
Synonyms and Synonymous
n. [1]. End, extremity, fag-end, hinder part.[2]. Skirt, flap.[3]. (Mus.) Stem (of a note).
Editor: Madge
Definition
n. (law) the term applied to an estate which is cut off or limited to certain heirs.—ns. Tail′āge Tall′āge.
n. the posterior extremity of an animal its caudal appendage: anything resembling a tail in appearance position &c.: the back lower or hinder part of anything: a retinue suite: a queue or body of persons in single file: anything long and hanging as a catkin train of a comet long curl of hair &c.: in Turkey a horse-tail formerly carried before a pasha as an emblem of relative rank.—n. Tail′-board the board at the hinder end of a cart or wagon which can be let down or removed for convenience in unloading.—adj. Tailed having a tail of a specified kind.—ns. Tail′-end the hind part of any animal the tip of the tail: the end or finish of anything the fag-end: (pl.) inferior corn sorted out from that of better quality; Tail′-feath′er one of the rectrices or rudder-feathers of a bird's tail; Tail′-gate the aft or lower gate of a canal lock.—n.pl. Tail′ings refuse dregs.—adj. Tail′less having no tail.—ns. Tail′piece a piece at the tail or end esp. of a series as of engravings; Tail′pipe the suction pipe in a pump.—v.t. to fasten something to the tail of as a dog to fix something to one by way of joke.—ns. Tail′race the channel in which water runs away below a mill-wheel; Tail′rope in coal-mining a rope extending from the hind part of a car or kibble in a slightly inclined passage by means of which the empties are drawn 'inby ' while the loaded cars are drawn 'outby.'—Lay or Put salt on the tail of (see Salt); Make neither head nor tail of anything (see Head); Turn tail to run away to shirk a combat; Twist the lion's tail (U.S.) to goad or insult the pacific and long-suffering British public feeling for political purposes in America; With the tail between the legs in a cowardly way after the manner of a beaten cur when he sneaks away.
Checker: Wayne
Unserious Contents or Definition
To dream of seeing only the tail of a beast, unusual annoyance is indicated where pleasures seemed assured. To cut off the tail of an animal, denotes that you will suffer misfortune by your own carelessness. To dream that you have the tail of a beast grown on you, denotes that your evil ways will cause you untold distress, and strange events will cause you perplexity.
Typist: Mag
Unserious Contents or Definition
n. The part of an animal's spine that has transcended its natural limitations to set up an independent existence in a world of its own. Excepting in its foetal state Man is without a tail a privation of which he attests an hereditary and uneasy consciousness by the coat-skirt of the male and the train of the female and by a marked tendency to ornament that part of his attire where the tail should be and indubitably once was. This tendency is most observable in the female of the species in whom the ancestral sense is strong and persistent. The tailed men described by Lord Monboddo are now generally regarded as a product of an imagination unusually susceptible to influences generated in the golden age of our pithecan past.
Edited by Hardy
Examples
- You know, he said, I can't make head or tail out of this business. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- Apparently it carried this vast body kangaroo fashion on its tail and hind legs. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- Then, as the creature's legs appear and its tail is absorbed, it begins to use its lungs, and its gills dwindle and vanish. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- I would almost as soon believe that the cat curls the end of its tail when preparing to spring, in order to warn the doomed mouse. Charles Darwin. On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection.
- Add to that the length of neck and head, and you get a creature not much less than two feet long--probably more if there is any tail. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes.
- Not thirty paces behind the two she crouched--Sabor, the huge lioness--lashing her tail. Edgar Rice Burroughs. Tarzan of the Apes.
- The dog wagged his tail, but moved not. Charles Dickens. Oliver Twist.
- Some sailors being aloft in the main-topsail rigging, the captain had ordered them to race down, threatening the hindmost with the cat-of-nine-tails. Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell. North and South.
- I am sure that you cannot fail to be delighted with the traces of heredity shown in the p's and in the tails of the g's. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes.
- It was the Manchus who obliged the Chinese to wear pig-tails as a mark of submission. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- Only to jerk their tails up and down. Hemingway, Ernest. For Whom The Bell Tolls.
- He probed the glowworms with a bit of stick, and rolled them over, till the bright side of their tails was upwards. Thomas Hardy. The Return of the Native.
- I fancy that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his coat-tails. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
- The adults stood aloft upon their toes and their mighty tails, their talons pruning every available leaf and twig. Edgar Rice Burroughs. The Gods of Mars.
- Time passed Thomas on in the mill, while his father was thinking about it, and there he stood in a long-tailed coat and a stiff shirt-collar. Charles Dickens. Hard Times.
- Was it some one who had watched the swift, sure-footed spring of a bushy-tailed squirrel from branch to branch? Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- All I want to say is that my daughter'--he tailed off into silence, overcome by futility. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- He began with the history of Galvanism, de tailed the successive discoveries, and described the different methods of accumulating influence. Walter Libby. An Introduction to the History of Science.
- The students were shouting half-articulated words that tailed off in helpless explosions. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- But if there did happen to come along a highly attractive individual of sufficient means--well--' she tailed off ironically. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- Sir, your god, your great Bel, your fish-tailed Dagon, rises before me as a demon. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- I--I didn't understand him so, certainly,' said Mr. Winkle, astounded on this ingenious dove-tailing of the few words he had heard. Charles Dickens. The Pickwick Papers.
- This neutralized the tailing effect by clearing the line between pulsations, thus allowing the telegraphic characters to be clearly and distinctly outlined upon the tape. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
Inputed by Edgar