I. ˈtāl, esp before pause or consonant -āəl noun
( -s )
Usage: often attributive
Etymology: Middle English, from Old English tægel, tægl; akin to Old High German zagal tail, Old Norse tagl horse's tail, Gothic tagl hair, Old Irish dūal lock of hair, and perhaps to Sanskrit daśā fringe of a garment, wick
1.
a. : the part of the vertebrate body posterior to the portion containing the body cavity:
(1) : a rather slender more or less elongated process that arises from the trunk of many mammals immediately above the anus, contains the caudal vertebrae, and is often variously modified as a support, a balancer, or a grasping organ — see coccyx ; see cow illustration
(2) : the uropygium of a bird with its attached feathers ; sometimes : the feathers alone of this part
the peacock spreads his splendid tail
— see bird illustration
(3) : the caudal fin and caudal peduncle of a fish ; sometimes : caudal fin
(4) : the portion of the body of a limbless reptile behind the vent
b. : any of various backwardly directed and usually posterior processes on the body of an invertebrate animal
2. : something resembling an animal's tail in shape or position : a hindmost part or something that trails behind : a terminal appendage or rear end: as
a. : the luminous train of a comet
b. : a stroke or loop at the bottom of a letter (as g or y ) of the alphabet usually extending below the line
c. : one of the narrow prolongations of the hind wings of some butterflies and moths
d. : one of the slender stringy tips of some swollen roots (as of beets or turnips)
e. : a rudder or vane that turns a windmill to face the wind
f. : a braid of hair or a long switch or pigtail
her woolly hair was braided in sundry little tails — Harriet B. Stowe
3. : a train or company of attendants : retinue
4. tails plural
a. : tailcoat
b. : full evening dress for men
came downstairs resplendent in tails and white tie — Joseph Wechsberg
c. : the skirt, hem, or train of a gown or other long garment
his raincoat … kept slipping and he trod on its tail — John Buchan
5.
a. : buttocks
sits on his tail at a desk — Frances & Richard Lockridge
b. slang : sexual intercourse — usually considered vulgar
6.
a. : something that trails or follows in time or place : the back, last, lower, or inferior part of something : the part opposed to the head, superior part, front, or beginning : end , extremity , rear , conclusion
b. : the concluding part of a word, sentence, or discourse
at the tail of their conversation — Harriet Martineau
c. : a part that occurs or appears last
seemed to tire toward the tail of the evening
d. : the rear of a vehicle or of a traveling mechanism or implement
tumbled out at the tail of the cart — Roger Fry
in the private cabin in the tail of the ship — W.L.Worden
e. : the rear end of a procession (as a marching army)
f. : the reverse of a coin — see head or tail
g. : the part of a millrace downstream from the wheel : the downstream section of a pool or river
h. : the outermost or underwater part of a projecting bank or bar
i. : one end of a molecule regarded as opposite to the head — used especially of monomers as they are joined in polymers
7.
a. : the residuum or refuse part left after a process (as milling, ore dressing, or distilling) : dregs, tailings
b. : the lowest grade of flour derived in milling from a final treatment of the impure stocks
8. : a sprout of barley
9.
a. : the group standing hindmost in accomplishment, value, or skill (as in a political party, a society, a team, or in a herd or flock)
b. also tail end : the members of a cricket team who are not played primarily as batsmen and who go in to bat towards the end of the innings
10. : a horsetail formerly used in Turkey as a mark of rank
a pasha of two tails
11. : any of various parts of bodily structures that are terminal: as
a. : the distal tendon of a muscle
b. : the slender left end of the human pancreas
c. : the common convoluted tube that forms the lower part of the epididymis
12. : the stem of a written or printed musical note
13. : a police or other spy who follows or keeps watch on someone : detective , investigator , operative , shadow
his tail might be anything from a private dick to a G-man — Erle Stanley Gardner
14.
a. : the exposed lower end of a slate, tile, or rafter
b. : tailing 4
15. nautical : a rope spliced around a block with long ends by which it may be lashed to something
16. : an augment (as the additional lines of a tailed sonnet) added to a recognized prosodic form — see tail rhyme
17. : tail fly
18.
a. : the blank space below the printed part of a page or the corresponding part of the form from which the page is printed
b. : foot 9d
19. : jet VI 3
20. or tail unit or tail group : the rear part of an airplane consisting of horizontal and vertical stabilizing surfaces to which are attached movable surfaces for longitudinal and directional control : empennage
21. : the trail left by one who is going forward in or as if in flight
let the guy pass me to get him off my tail
had a posse on his tail
II. verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
transitive verb
1. : to fasten by or at the tail, stern, or rear : connect end to end : string out
tailed weak words endlessly one to another
2. : to drag, grasp, or pull by the tail
tailed a badger that the dog had drawn out
3.
a. : to remove the tail of (an animal) : dock
b. : to cut off the stringy ends of
top and tail the green beans — Dione Lucas
4.
a. : to make or furnish with a tail
tailed a kite for his young son
b. : to follow or be drawn behind like a tail
tailed the champion to take second place
5. : to fasten an end of (a tile, brick, or timber) into a wall or other support
6. Australia : to act as herdsman of (sheep or cattle) : drive , herd
7. : to follow (someone) for purposes of surveillance : keep under observation : trail , watch
all the afternoon, the detectives tailed the two men — Joel Sayre
intransitive verb
1. : to ground stern first — used with aground
2. : to form or move in a straggling line : stretch out in a loose, irregular, or widely spaced column or file
with some hundred more tailing out in single file to join them — N.J.Berrill
3.
a. : to diminish gradually : grow progressively smaller, fainter, or more scattered : approach an end : subside
her voice tailed off into hesitant silence
the airy rain had tailed away into the soft, moist blackness — Mervyn Wall
b. : to blend or merge gradually
a beach tailed out into the shallows — Nelson Hayes
4. : to break the surface of water with the tail while feeding on the bottom or in weeds
5. : to become built into a wall or other support so as to be held by the end — used of a timber, tile, or brick
6. : to swing or lie with the stern in a named direction — used of a ship at anchor
the ship tailed toward the shore
a liner tailed downriver
7. : to follow or mix closely with : tag
found it pleasanter to tail along with the crowd he knew
Synonyms: see follow
III. adjective
Etymology: Middle English taille, tayle, from Anglo-French taylé, from Old French taillié, past participle of taillier to cut, shape, fix, limit — more at tailor
: limited as to tenure : abridged, curtailed, entailed, reduced — compare estate tail , fee tail
IV. transitive verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
Etymology: Middle English taylen, taillen, from Anglo-French tayler, from Old French taillier to cut, shape, limit
: to limit or encumber with an entail : grant in tail
V. noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English tayle, taille, from Middle French taille, from Old French, from taillier
1. obsolete : tally 1a
2. : the state or condition of entailment : limitation , abridgment