| 释义 |
▪ I. tail, n.1|teɪl|
Forms: 1 tæᵹel, tæᵹl, 3 teil, 3– tail; also 3–8 tayl, 4 taille, 4–6 tayll(e, 4–7 taile, tayle, 5–6 taill; Sc. 4–6 tale.
[Com. Teut.: OE. tæᵹel, tæᵹl, = ON. tagl a horse's tail (Sw. tagel horse-hair of tail or mane); OHG. zagel, MHG. zagel, dial. zail, zeil, tail of animal, etc., mod.Ger. dial. zagel, zâl, zael tail; LG. tagel a twisted scourge or whip of thongs or ropes, a rope-end, rope (Brem. Wbch.), Goth. tagl hair (of the head, of the camel). Ulterior etymology uncertain; but the evidence appears to show that the primary sense was either ‘hair’ or ‘hairy tail’, as of the horse, ox, fox, etc., whence it was extended to the tails of other animals. Already in OE. it was applied to the tails of ‘worms’ or reptiles, and to the sting of the bee. In OE. the tail was also called steort, start. = Du. staart.]
1. a. The posterior extremity of an animal, in position opposite to the head, either forming a distinct flexible appendage to the trunk, or being the continuation of the trunk itself behind the anus. Also, a representation or figure of this part.
In most vertebrate animals, consisting of a number of gradually attenuated coccygeal vertebræ covered with flesh and integument; in quadrupeds often clothed with hair, in birds with feathers (see also peacock's tail), and in fishes bearing the caudal fin; in invertebrate animals, sometimes a distinct and well-marked member, at other times not distinctly marked off from the rest of the body.
a800Laws of Ine c. 59 Oxan tæᵹl bið scill[inges] weorð. a1023Wulfstan Hom. xlii. (1883) 200 Eᵹeslice mycele deor..hi habbaþ tæᵹlas ðam wyrmum ᵹelice. c1200Vices & Virtues 151 Ðat ðe tail ware on auriche netene. c1205Lay. 29557 Heo..nomen tailes of rehȝen and hangede on his cape. a1225Ancr. R. 254 Sansumes foxes..weren bi þe teiles iteied ueste..And in euerich ones teile a blase berninde. c1290S. Eng. Leg. I. 363/38 And teiden him sethþe to a wilde hors at þe taile bihinde. 1340Hampole Pr. Consc. 4419–23 He says, ‘with his tayle he droghe don even Þe thred part of þe sternes of heven,’..Þis was þe taille of þe dragon. c1391Chaucer Astrol. ii. §4 The tail of the dragoun, is in [þe] hows of the assendent. 1413Pilgr. Sowle (Caxton) i. xix. (1859) 19 No body had he under this hede, but only a tayl whiche semyd the tayle of a worme. 1470–85Malory Arthur v. iv. 165 The bore..whiche was x foote large fro the hede to the taylle. 1483Caxton Gold. Leg. 174 b/2 Castyng on hym the tayles of thornback or like fisshes. 1486Bk. St. Albans b ij b, The federis of the wynges and of the taylle. a1548Hall Chron., Hen. VII 30 Thinkyng to haue gotten God by the foote, when she had the deuell by the tayle. 1600J. Pory tr. Leo's Africa ix. 341 Others affirmed that they had seene one of those tailes [of a sheep] of an hundred and fiftie pounds weight. a1604Hanmer Chron. Irel. (1633) 125 This reformation was but a sweeping of a house with a Foxes tayle. 1626Yates Ibis ad Cæsarem i. 6 Though the head of this Hydra was cut off, yet it had still a frigling taile. 1690Locke Hum. Und. iii. ii. §3 A Child..applies the Word Gold only to his own Idea of that Colour, and nothing else; and therefore calls the same Colour in a Peacock's Tail, Gold. a1727Newton Chronol. Amended i. (1728) 83 The Tayl of the South Fish [constellation]. 1826Kirby & Sp. Entomol. III. xxxiii. 389 Cauaa (the Tail). Where the abdomen grows suddenly slenderer, and terminates in a long jointed tail, as in Scorpio and Panorpa. 1861Hulme tr. Moquin-Tandon ii. iii. iii. 96 The abdomen [of the Crayfish], improperly termed the tail. 1894Newton Dict. Birds 701 The so-called ‘tail’ of the Peacock is formed not by the rectrices or true tail-feathers, but by the singular development of the tail-coverts.
b. The tail of a horse, of which one, two, or three were borne before a pasha as insignia of rank: see pasha (note), and horse-tail 1 b.
1717Lady M. W. Montagu Let. to Abbé Conti 17 May, The pashas of three tails have those ensigns..placed in a very conspicuous manner before their tents. 1820Hughes Trav. Sicily II. i. 23 It was governed by beys, and pashas of two tails, sent by the Porte. 1836Penny Cycl. V. 231/1 Bosnia..is governed by a pasha of three tails, to whom the governors of the six sandshaks, who are pashas of two tails, are subordinate.
†c. Contemptuously: expressing exhaustive clearance: cf. hoof 3. Obs.
c1330R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 214 Of þe aliens ilk taile þe lond voided clere. 1525Ld. Berners Froiss. II. xlix. 171 There shall not one tayle of them retourne agayne into fraunce.
2. A thing, part, or appendage, resembling the tail of an animal in shape or position.
a. In general sense.
b. The luminous train usually extending from the ‘head’ of a comet.
†c. The germinating sprout of barley; = come n.2 Obs.
d. The stalk or peduncle of a fruit (obs.); the stalk of a mushroom (dial.).
e. The attenuated part of a muscle at its insertion.
f. A twisted or braided tress of hair; a queue, pig-tail.
g. In writing and printing, A stroke or loop forming the lower portion of certain letters and figures, and usually passing below the line. h. In musical notation, The line proceeding from the head of a note; the stem. i. A kind of wooden lever at the the back of a windmill by which it is turned to the wind; also, a vane for the same purpose. j. The long handle of an implement, as a rake. k. = queue n. 3; in phrase in tail rendering the Fr. en queue. l. The rear part of an aeroplane or air-balloon. (Except in the case of quot. 1804, the 19th-century examples refer to projected not actual aircraft.) m. Math. An extremity of a curve, esp. that of a frequency distribution, as it approaches the horizontal axis of a graph; the part of a distribution that this represents. n. Woodworking. In a dovetail joint: (see quot. 1966).
a.1523Fitzherb. Husb. §14 The roughe otes..be very lyghte, and haue longe tayles, wherby they wyll hange eche one to other. 1666G. Harvey Morb. Angl. xxxv. 112 The Distill'd water of those tails that hang on Willow Trees. 1683Tryon Way to Health xix. (1697) 416 To see..a Man, (according to the Vulgar Proverb) appear like an Onion with a Gray Head and a Green Tail. 1776Withering Brit. Plants (1796) II. 499 Flowers naked; seeds without tails. 1808Curwen Econ. Feeding Stock 54 Turnips..with the tops and tails cut off. 1883R. Haldane Workshop Receipts Ser. ii. 255/1 Be careful not to leave clouds or tails where the brush leaves the roof after the stroke. 1883Knight Cruise Falcon (1887) 125 Some tails of strong black tobacco. 1884W. C. Smith Kildrostan i. iv. 253, I..cannot rise Without it..More than the kite without its load of tail. 1901Daily Chron. 12 Aug. 3/3 The Kallima butterfly..generally rests upon the trunk of a tree..with the ‘tails’ on the hind wings directed upwards.
b. [1297R. Glouc. (Rolls) 8604 Þe taylede sterre men clupeþ..Vor þer comþ fram hire a lem suiþe cler & briȝte, As a tayl oþer a launce.] 1572T. Smith in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. iii. IV. 7 The new faire Starre, or Comett, but without beard or taile, which hath appeared here this three weekes. 1690Leybourn Curs. Math. 451 Kepler is of Opinion, that the Tail of a Comet is only enlightened by the Sun's Beams. 1738Gentl. Mag. VIII. 244/2 They..terrify the gazing Nations, who from their glaring Tail and hideous Aspect forbode the worst of Consequences. 1849Herschel Outl. Astron. §557 The tail is..by no means an invariable appendage of comets.
c.1594Plat Jewell-ho. i. 49 The duste and tailes of the malt, which are left in malting. 1763Museum Rust. (ed. 2) I. 114 In what manner to make a profitable use of malt⁓dust; that is, the dust, tails, &c. which fall off in the screening. 1805R. W. Dickson Pract. Agric. I. 223 The dust which is screened from malt, mixed with the tails,..may be converted to the purpose of manure.
d.1613Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 184 If the tayle or woodden substance, whereby it groweth, be on it [an apple].
e.1719Quincy Lex. Physico-Med. (1722) 5 The Tendon formed by the Tails of several Muscles. 1877Rosenthal Muscles & Nerves (1881) 13 The ends are spoken of as the head and tail, of the muscle.
f.1799in Spirit Pub. Jrnls. III. 320 Club nor queue, nor twisted tail Nor e'en thy chatt'ring, barber! shall avail. 1840Marryat Poor Jack vii, In a minute the tail was off. 1852Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom's C. xx, Her woolly hair was braided in sundry little tails. 1877A. B. Edwards Up Nile xxii. 701 They wore their hair..plaited in long tails behind.
g.1599Middleton, etc. Old Law iii. i. 76 The cipher is turned into 9 by adding the tail. 1676Moxon Print. Lett. 16 Describe the Arch for the inside of the Tail of a. 1771Luckombe Hist. Printing 280 The J..should run to the depth of three lines, on account of its tail. 1852Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom's C. iv, Uncle Tom laboriously brought up the tail of his g the wrong side out. 1893Furnivall Capgrave's Life S. Kath. (E.E.T.S.) p. xxxix note, Hart's e has a curl or tail under it.
h.c1325in Rel. Ant. I. 292 Ther is a streinant, with to longe tailes. 1597Morley Introd. Mus. 9 If your first note lack a tayle. 1674Playford Skill Mus. i. viii. 28 Semi⁓quavers are Tyed together by a long stroke on the top of their Tails. 1879Grove Dict. Mus. s.v. Crotchet, But croche is a quaver..and is so called on account of the hook at the end of its tail.
i.1712J. James tr. Le Blond's Gardening 192 Turning themselves to the Wind, by means of a Tail in Form of a Ship's Rudder, which turns about every way. 1892P. H. Emerson Son of Fens xxxii. 336, I..got hold of the rope and pulled the gripe up, and made that fast round the tail so that wouldn't jerk her off.
k.1837Carlyle Fr. Rev. I. vi. iv, Long strings of purchasers, arranged in tail so that the first come be the first served. Ibid., In time we shall see..the art..of standing in tail become one of the characteristics of the Parisian People, distinguishing them from all other Peoples.
l.1804G. Cayley in C. H. Gibbs-Smith Sir George Cayley's Aeronautics (1962) vi. 18 This rod..supported a tail, made of two planes crossing each other at right angles... The tail could be set to any angle. 1835Nautical Mag. IV. 612 An internal balloon is fitted for the purpose of ascending and descending at will, and the whole is intended to be propelled by fins, paddles, or wings we may call them... Finally the creature enjoys the important appendage of a tail abaft. 1848Chambers's Edin. Jrnl. 6 May 302/2 There was also a tail, which, turning on a joint, was to direct the Ariel's flight. 1909[see feathering ppl. a. c]. 1913A. H. Verrill Harper's Aircraft Bk. xi. 120 The parts of an aeroplane are mainly the frame, or ‘chassis’; the body, or ‘fuselage’;..the rudder and tail;..and the control system. 1915D. O. Barnett Let. 13 June 176 Up went his tail, and he began going down in spirals. 1959Chambers's Encycl. I. 99/1 Streamlining eliminates this feature of bluff sections, a narrow wake forming only as the tail is approached. 1978J. Gardner Dancing Dodo iv. 24 One [body] had been found towards where the tail and elevators should have been... The other had been taken from..the wreckage of the tail cone.
m.1895K. Pearson in Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A. CLXXXVI. 397 We require to have the ‘tail’ as carefully recorded as the body of statistics. Unfortunately the practical collectors of statistics often..proceed by a method of ‘lumping together’ at the extremes of their statistical series. 1930E. Rutherford Coll. Papers (1965) III. 235 It is seen that the curve is very nearly symmetrical, but that there is a small ‘tail’ on the low-velocity side. 1980K. Randsborg Viking Age in Denmark vii. 157 The Russian and Scandinavian finds of the ninth century have long tails of older coins.
n.1963K. Wright Woodworking iii. 122 The strongest dovetails are those where pins and tails are equal in size. 1966A. W. Lewis Gloss. Woodworking Terms 22 Dovetail, joint in which the ‘tail’, shaped like a dove's spread tail, fits between correspondingly shaped pins. This locks the joint and prevents it from being pulled apart in one direction. 1977Reader's Digest Bk. of Do-it-yourself Skills & Techniques 129 Cut down the tails with a dovetail saw, skimming the lines on the waste side.
o. A piece or ‘slip’ of irregularly bounded land jutting out from a larger piece. Sc. Obs.
Represented in med.L. by cauda, e.g. 1546–80 in Regr. of Great Seal of Scotl. No. 268 Croftam seu caudam; Exch. Rolls of Scotl. VII. 169 Cauda de Lekkok vel tale de Lekkok.
1472Rental Bk. Cupar Angus (1879) I. 162 With the twa talis of land left and made to ws be the last perambulatioun. 1541Records of Elgin (New Spald. Cl. 1903) I. 64 Mr Thomas Gaderar..complenit vpon Robert Mawar for cassin ane stank upon ane taill pertynyng to the said Mr Thomas. 1550Ibid. 100 Ane taill of land lyand on the north syid of the said burgh. 1690Ibid. 349 Croftis, taillis, yairdis and utheris lyabill in paying the teynd scheaff.
3. The train or tail-like portion of a woman's dress (in later use colloq.); the pendent posterior part of a man's dress-coat or a peasant's long coat; the loose part of any coat below the waist; (often in pl.) the bottom or lower edge of a gown, a skirt, etc., which reaches quite or nearly to the ground; in pl., a tail-coat; a dress suit with tail-coat; dial. the skirt of a woman's dress; tails, skirts. Also (in sing. or pl.), the back part of a man's shirt that reaches below the waist.
1297R. Glouc. (Rolls) 2513 Þis maide..side drou hire tail Akne to þe king ȝo sede, Louerd king, washayl. a1450Knt. de la Tour 30 Her hodes, taylles, and sleues be not furred ynowgh after the shape that rennithe now. 1500–20Dunbar Poems xiv. 73 Sic fowill tailis, to sweip the calsay clene, The dust vpskaillis. 1532Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scotl. VI. 80 Ane doublat with ane taile, to the Kingis grace. 1560Rolland Crt. Venus iv. 541 And Venus taill twa Ladeis vp it beiris. 1690Crowne Eng. Friar v. Wks. 1874 IV. 111 Madam, speak to the ladies now I am here, to let down their trains; 'tis not manners in the presence of a man o' my quality, to cock up their tails. 1762Foote Lyar i. Wks. 1799 I. 277 The draggled tail of my tatter'd academical habit. 1845, etc. [see shirt-tail s.v. shirt n. 5 c]. 1857Hughes Tom Brown i. viii, His friends at home..hadn't put him into tails. 18..St. Nicholas (U.S.) XIV. 406 (Cent. D.) Once a boy [at Harrow] has reached the modern remove, he puts on his tails, or tailed coat. 1888Century Mag. May 128/1 He crossed the room, stepping over the tails of gowns, and stood before his old friend. 1890Parnell Sp. Ho. Comm. 14 Feb., To go about like the traditional Irishman at Donnybrook Fair, and exclaim ‘Will nobody tread on the tail of my coat?’ 1915Mrs. H. Ward Eltham House ii. 23 You made up your mind from the time you got into tails at Eton. 1932S. Gibbons Cold Comfort Farm i. 10 Charles looked well in tails. 1958B. Nichols Sweet & Twenties 110 Young men wore tails and white ties as a matter of course. 1960Guardian 16 Dec. 8/3 At balls, even in the London season, tails are not uncompromisingly de rigueur. 1965R. P. Jhabvala Backward Place iii. 166 He ran after her into the street, the tails of his crumpled shirt flying as he ran.
4. The lower or hinder extremity of anything; the part opposite to what is regarded as the head.
a. in general application.
1362Langl. P. Pl. A. v. 19 Beches and brode okes weore blowen to þe eorþe, And turned vpward þe tayl. 1731Mortimer in Phil. Trans. XXXVII. 107 They [packthreads] are all spread on a Cross-piece fastened to two Staples: These are called the Tail of the Mounture. 1778Pryce Min. Cornub. iv. ii. 234 The stony coarse poorer part settles..on the tail or lower end of the boards. 1805R. W. Dickson Pract. Agric. I. 296 The tail, or terminating part of the strata. 1859F. Griffiths Artill. Man. (1862) 114 The gun is at the tail of the platform. 1872Ellacombe Ch. Bells Devon, etc. ii. 217 Bells are sometimes chimed..by hitching the rope round the flight or tail of the clapper. 1887D. A. Low Machine Draw. (1892) 6 The head already formed on the rivet, and called the tail, is then held up, and the point is hammered or pressed so as to form another head. 1890Billings Nat. Med. Dict., Tail of epididymis, the lower pointed extremity. 1898in Daily News 8 Nov. 6/1 [Mr. Gladstone] would prefix the address and affix his signature, writing (as he called it) the ‘head and the tail’.
b. The terminal or concluding part of anything, as of a text, word, or sentence (cf. head n.1 19), of a period of time, or something occupying time, as a storm, shower, drought, etc.
1377Langl. P. Pl. B. iii. 347 And þat is þe taille of þe tixte. a1450Myrc Par. Pr. 1889 Cotte þow not þe wordes tayle. 1579Fulke Heskins's Parl. 258 Here M. Hesk. choppeth off y⊇ taile [of the sentence]. 1613Sir H. Nevill in Buccleuch MSS. (Hist. MSS. Comm.) I. 131 The tail of this storm fell a little upon my Lord himself. 1771Smollett Humph. Cl. 20 Apr., I now sit down to execute the threat in the tail of my last [letter]. a1774Fergusson Sandie & Willie Poems (1789) II. 4 It's wearin' on now to the tail o' May. 1833H. Martineau Loom & Lugger i. i. 16 At the tail of their conversation. 1872Black Adv. Phaeton xx. 278 The tail of a shower sometimes overtaking us.
c. The rear-end of an army or marching column, of a procession, etc. Also spec., the non-combatant personnel of an armed service or of a military unit. (Cf. head n.1 18 a.)
1565Cooper Thesaurus s.v. Agmen, They cutte of the tayle of the armie, or kyll them that are behynde. 1610Holland Camden's Brit. (1637) 43 They attempted to cut off the taile of our armie. 1800Wellington in Gurw. Desp. (1837) I. 197 Colonel Stevenson is after them, and will cut off part of the tail, I hope. 1858O. W. Holmes Aut. Breakf.-t. iii. 19 The wit knows that his place is at the tail of a procession. 1899T. S. Baldock Cromwell 231 The King with the head of his column reached Harborough in safety, the tail quartering as far back as Naseby. 1946Hansard Commons 30 Oct. 690 Our job must be to secure an efficient fighting force in which the tail is kept as short as possible, and the teeth as long and as keen as possible. 1950Ibid. 26 July 555 If one is to provide an operational division,..the tail cannot be avoided, otherwise the division is not operational at all. 1961B. Fergusson Watery Maze vii. 159 As ‘Teeth’ troops (to use a phrase which was then [sc. in 1942] both new and picturesque, but has long since become a cliché) there was little to equal them; but they lacked a ‘Tail’—those ancillaries which in modern war virtually wag the dog. 1972D. Bloodworth Any Number can Play xiii. 116 When a soldier moves, all his basic needs are looked after by a vast administrative tail that..clothes him, feeds him, transports him. 1977R.A.F. News 30 Mar.–12 Apr. 7/2 It is possible to continue trimming the so-called ‘tail’ by successive cuts in defence expenditure.
d. The hinder part of a cart, plough, or harrow; = plough-tail . (Cf. head n.1 18 c.)
1466Agnes Paston Will in P. Lett. II. 286 Withouȝt they shuld hold the plowe to the tayle. 1526R. Whitford Martiloge 114 b, They were tyed unto the tayles of cartes, & so drawen thrugh bushes, breres, & thornes unto deth. 1547(15 Nov.) City of Lond. Rep. in Vicary's Anat. (1888) App. iii. 174 John Launder..& John Croydon..beggers..shall..be whypped naked att A Cartes Taylle. 1563–87, etc. [see cart's-tail]. 1577B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. i. (1586) 21 The partes of the Plowe, are the Tayle, the Shelfe, the Beame [etc.]. 1887Jessopp Arcady iv. 117 Their sturdy sons will push their way, but not..at the plough's tail.
†e. The stern of a ship or boat. (Cf. head n.1 21.) Obs.
1553Brende Q. Curtius T viij, Swimming at the boates tailes. 1645Evelyn Diary June (1827) I. 312 These vessells [gondolas] are built very long and narrow, having necks and tailes of steele. 1709Lond. Gaz. No. 4510/7 The Hoy Burthen 9 or 10 Tun, very full built forward, with a clean Tail.
f. The part of a mill-race below the wheel; the tail-race; the lower end of a pool or stream.
1533–4Act 25 Hen. VIII, c. 7 Any other engine..at the taile of anie mille or were. 1613J[ohn] D[ennys] Secr. Angling ii. xxvi, See some standing..at the Tayles of Mills and Arches small. 1725De Foe Voy. round World (1840) 288 The water..had made a pit under it with the fall, like the tail of a mill. 1829Nat. Philos. I. Hydraulics iii. 26 (Usef. Knowl. Soc.) To permit a portion of the upper water to flow down into the tail or lower stream immediately in front of the wheel. 1867F. Francis Angling i. (1880) 40 The tail of a pool is a favourite place for them. 1886Q. Rev. Oct. 341 The tail of a swift stream, where it broadens out before another white rapid.
g. The spit or extremity of a reef or sandbank, where it slopes under the water.
1761Chron. in Ann. Reg. 149/2 The Actaeon ran aground on the tail of the Pall-Bank. 1799Hull Advertiser 6 Apr. 3/1 The cutter got up as far as the tail of the bank. 1817Sporting Mag. L. 172 At what sailors call the ‘Tail’ of the land, there is always a turbulent sea, or rather Race. 1858Merc. Marine Mag. V. 225 Ships..should pass as close as possible to the tail of the Reef.
h. The reverse side of a coin; esp. in phr. head(s or tail(s: see head n.1 3 b.
1684Otway Atheist ii. i, As Boys do with their Farthings..go to Heads or Tails for 'em. 1764Bridges Burlesque Homer (1774) 115 (Farmer) 'Tis heads for Greece, and Tails for Troy... Two farthings out of three were Tails. 1801Strutt Sports & Past. iv. ii. (1810) 296 The reverse of the head being called the tail without respect to the figure upon it. 1884Punch 16 Feb. 73/1 A sovereign, a half sovereign,..or farthing, so long as it has a ‘head’ one side, and..a ‘tail’ the other. 1893F. Adams New Egypt 267 The goddess who sits on the ‘tails’ side of our bronze currency.
i. The lower, inner, or subordinate end of a long-shaped block or brick; the bottom or visible part of a roofing slate or tile.
1793Smeaton Edystone L. §82 The tail of the header was made to..bond with the interior parts. 1856S. C. Brees Gloss. Terms, Tail,..the lower end of the slate or tile.
j. Surg. Either end of an incision, which does not go through the whole thickness of the skin.
1846F. Brittan tr. Malgaigne's Man. Oper. Surg. 5 The bistoury must be repeatedly passed over the same course, so as to divide layer by layer. Here ‘tails’ are inevitable; but this inconvenience is light in comparison to the advantages to be sometimes derived from this mode of operating.
k. Printing and Bookbinding. The lower edge of a page or cover. (Cf. head n.1 13.)
1865J. Hannett Bibliopegia (ed. 6) 234 The head being cut, the book is taken out of the press, and the quantity to be taken off the tail marked with the compasses. 1895J. W. Zaehnsdorf Hist. Bookbinding 25 Headbander, the person who works the fine silk or cotton ornament at head or tail of the book as a finish to the edge.
l. tail of the eye, the outer corner of the eye. out of, with the tail of the eye, with a sidelong or furtive glance.
1802R. Anderson Cumberld. Ball. 45 But I only made luive thro' the tail o' my e'e. 1824Galt Rothelan II. v. iii. 203 ‘Sir Gibrel’, cried the lady, at the same time winking to him with the tail of her eye. 1859Reade Love me little xiv, Miss Lucy noticed this out of the tail of her eye. 1888J. Payn Myst. Mirbridge (Tauchn.) II. xvii. 187 Mrs. Westropp watched him with the tail of her eye as she talked to Lady Trevor.
†m. A small evening party, subsequent to a dinner or a ball. Obs.
1837C. Ridley Let. in Cecilia (1958) 26 We went to Lady Domville's—the nicest ball I have been at this year... We afterwards went to a tail where we saw a collection of unwashed uncombed philosophers. 1912G. W. E. Russell One Look Back viii. 164 ‘Tails’, as the name implies, were little parties tacked on to the end of big dinners, where a few people looked in, rather cross at not having been invited to dine, or else in a desperate hurry to get on to a larger party or a ball.
n. Phonetics. (See quot. 1922.)
1922H. E. Palmer Eng. Intonation iv. 10 Any syllable or syllables following the nucleus in the same Tone-Group is termed the ‘Tail’ of the group. The Tail-syllable or group of syllables following the Falling Nucleus..is pitched on the low level. 1965Amer. Speech XL. 72 Word order affects intonation in the tail, head, and nucleus.
o. The rear part of a motor vehicle.
1928E. Wallace Double xiii. 187 Outside he saw five police cars parked bonnet to tail. 1975Drive New Year 106/3 The car's tail tends to drift out of corners at lower speeds than earlier models.
5. a. The lower and hinder part of the human body; the fundament, posteriors, buttocks, backside. tail over top = top over tail: see top n. Now dial. and colloq. (chiefly U.S., esp. in fig. phrases, as to work one's tail off, to work strenuously).
1303R. Brunne Handl. Synne 5416 Þarfor shul þey..Go to helle, both top and tayle. c1330― Chron. (1810) 70 Into þe waise þam fro he tombled top ouer taile. c1400Laud Troy Bk. 16727 He bar him tayl ouer top, That he lay ther as a sop. a1500Chester Pl. (Shaks. Soc.) II. 176 Thou take hym by the toppe and I by the tayle. 1530Palsgr. 279/1 Tayle or arse, queue or cul. 1542Udall Erasm. Apoph. 81 He was forbidden to sitte on his taille & was charged to stand vpon his feete. 1686tr. Chardin's Trav. Persia 97 They go Barefoot, and all in Tattars that hardly cover their Tails. 1889J. M. Duncan Dis. Wom. xxxii. (ed. 4) 268 Ever since that time she has had pain, in what she calls her tail. 1935J. T. Farrell Judgment Day in Studs Lonigan (1938) iv. 86 This idea of sweating your tail off with work..is the undiluted crap. 1942W. Faulkner Go down, Moses 229 This is the first time you've had your tail out of that kitchen since we got here except to chop a little wood. 1969New Yorker 14 June 72/3 Go out there and work your tail off. Don't wake up tomorrow morning regretting that you didn't give a hundred per cent. 1976Billings (Montana) Gaz. 1 July 4-e/1, I worked my tail off to help win a pennant for the Dodgers.
b. at († after) the tail of, at the back of, in the rear of, following; in the tail of, in the train of; so † to follow the tail of. Cf. 6.
13..K. Alis. 2142 (Bodley MS.) Siweþ me after [Weber at] my taile. 1471Ripley Comp. Alch. v. xxviii. in Ashm. Theatr. Chem. Brit. (1652) 155 Folys doe folow them at the tayle. 1542Udall Erasm. Apoph. 283 b, After his taille should come his owne souldyours. a1547Surrey æneid iv. 207 The skies gan rumble sore, In tail thereof a mingled showr with hayle. 1549Latimer 2nd Serm. bef. Edw. VI (Arb.) 66 That ye wyll geue youre byshoppes charge yer they go home..to se your maiesties iniunctions better kepte, and sende youre visitours in theyr tayles. 1614Raleigh Hist. World iv. ii. §4. 147 In the taile of these Horses the Regiment of foot marched. 1848Thackeray Van. Fair xxiii, Peggy with the infantine procession at her tail. 1891Hall Caine Scapegoat vii, She..had..come to Morocco at the tail of a Spanish embassy.
c. Sexual member; penis or (oftener) pudendum.
1362Langl. P. Pl. A. iii. 126 Heo is Tikel of hire Tayl..As Comuyn as þe Cart-wei to knaues and to alle. c1450Cov. Myst. (Shaks. Soc.) 134 Suche a ȝonge damesel..Of hire tayle oftetyme be lyght. 1483Cath. Angl. 377/1 A Tayle, penis equi est. c1515Cocke Lorell's B. (Percy Soc.) 14 Many whyte nonnes with whyte vayles, That was full wanton of theyr tayles. a1744Pope To Mr. J. Moore iv. 1785Grose Dict. Vulg. T. s.v. Cab. 1972 F. Warner Lying Figures III. 17 Give her her head..and she'll give you her tail. 1977Transatlantic Rev. lx. 78 He had been after her tail for months, but Judy, being an old-fashioned girl, declined his advances.
d. slang. † (i) A prostitute (obs.); (ii) women regarded collectively (by men) as a means of sexual gratification; sexual intercourse; a sexual partner. Freq. in phr. a piece (or bit) of tail. Cf. piece n. 3 d.
1846Swell's Night Guide 58, I takes my pitch last night on Fleet pave, then..a swell was sweet on me for a tail. 1869F. Henderson Six Yrs. in Prisons of Eng. vii. 76 He meant a ‘flash-tail’, or prostitute who goes about the streets at nights trying to pick up ‘toffs’. 1933M. Lowry Ultramarine ii. 67 It's not as though you were a bloody man who'd been having a bit of tail. 1942, etc. [see piece n. 3 d]. 1951J. D. Salinger Catcher in Rye xiii. 109 Innarested in a little tail t'night? 1953H. Miller Plexus (1963) xi. 391 He's at loose ends. Hates his work, loathes his wife, and the kids bore him to death. All he thinks of now is tail. And boy, does he chase it! 1967J. Potter Foul Play xiii. 157 Where's all the tail today? No Hermione, no Bunty, no Christabel. 1976‘R. Gordon’ Doctor on Job vi. 59 Even if it was deciding whether to go out on the booze at night or have a bit of tail off of the wife. 1977Transatlantic Rev. lx. 39 He would yell, ‘How y'all doin, chief? Gettin much tail?’
6. a. A train or band of followers; a following; a retinue. Also fig.
1297R. Glouc. (Rolls) 10774 Hiderward Þe kinges conseilors londes hii destruede mid hor tayle. 1362Langl. P. Pl. A. ii. 160, I haue no tome to telle þe Tayl [B. ii. 185 taille] þat hem folweþ. c1420? Lydg. Assembly of Gods 754 Of vngracious gastes he bryngeth a long tayll. 1578Reg. Privy Council Scot. III. 15 To draw eftir thame a large taill of ignorant personis. 1633B. Jonson Tale Tub ii. i, Why should her worship lack Her tail of maids? 1675M. Clifford Hum. Reason in Phenix (1708) II. 540 If Errors in Belief draw so ill a Tail after them as the Devils and Damnation. 1814Scott Wav. xvi, The Chief with his tail on..that is, with all his usual followers. 1838[Miss Maitland] Lett. fr. Madras (1843) 180 Everybody has a tail, consisting of poor followers, flappers, and flatterers... When head walks abroad, tail walks after him at a respectful distance. 1862Sat. Rev. 15 Mar. 286 The glorious days when O'Connell's tail supplied Lord Melbourne's Cabinet with the means of protracting a miserable existence.
b. A person (as a detective or spy, etc.) who secretly follows and observes another. Also collect., people in the act of following. Cf. tag n.1 13, tail v.1 5 b. colloq. (orig. U.S.).
1914[see tail v.1 5 b]. 1933A. Merritt Burn Witch Burn! (1934) xii. 181 One of the tails—one of the lads who's been looking—meets up with me. 1940R. Stout Over my Dead Body xiv. 215 ‘You were having Miss Lovchen followed?’ ‘Yes, a double tail... Their instructions are to report in every two hours.’ 1955J. Cannan Long Shadows iii. 63 I'd like to put a tail on the lady. 1962‘K. Orvis’ Damned & Destroyed v. 42, I realized almost at once I'd picked up a tail. The two shadowing me..were..obvious. 1978M. H. Clark Stranger is Watching xxvi. 112 We'll have a loose tail on you—an agent following you from a distance.
7. a. (Also pl.) The inferior, less valuable, or refuse part of anything; foots, bottoms, dregs, sediment. Also fig. Cf. tailing vbl. n.1 2.
1542Boorde Dyetary x. (1870) 256 It [ale] must haue no weft nor tayle. 1642Rogers Naaman 71 Abandoning the refuse and taile that remained. 1674Ray Collect. Words, Prepar. Metals, Tin 123 The wast Tin that falls hindmost in the Buddle and Wreck, which they call the tail. 1778Pryce Min. Cornub. iv. i. 221. Ibid. Gloss. 329/1 Tails, the roughest refuse of stampt Tin thrown behind the tail or end of the buddle. 1890Science 5 Sept. 129 The tails or faints, as well as the still less volatile or ordinary fusel oil, are mixtures of several alcohols and fatty acid ethers.
b. (Also in pl.) Short for tail corn, etc.: see 12 b, and cf. tailing vbl. n.1 2 a.
1778W. H. Marshall Minutes Agric. 14 Oct. an. 1775, Last year, we made a bushel of tail to every fifteen bushels of head. 1801Farmer's Mag. Apr. 215 After grinding [it] produced 483 lb. English of barley meal, 3 lb. and a half of tails, and 40 lb. and a half of bran. 1880Jefferies Gt. Estate 110 He had a bushel of the ‘tail’, or second flour, from the mill.
8. a. The inferior, least influential, or least skilful members of a body; e.g. of a profession, a political party, etc.
1604Hieron Wks. I. 493 Those that are but the refuse, and (as I may so speake) the taile of an honest profession. 1780Burke Corr. (1844) II. 385, I will say nothing about that tail which draggles in the dirt, and which every party in every state must carry about it. 1855Macaulay Hist. Eng. xv. III. 553 These Whigs..belonged, not to the main body of the party, but either to the head or to the tail. 1876Grant Burgh Sch. Scotl. ii. xiii. 357 The more talented and industrious scholars are impeded for the sake of the tail of the class.
(b) spec. in Cricket, the lower end of the batting order, comprising the weaker batsmen in a team. Also fig.
1851J. Pycroft Cricket Field xi. 221 Never put in all your best men at first, and leave ‘a tail’ to follow. 1879James Lillywhite's Cricketers' Ann. 17 The tail was again weak, the last five wickets only adding 16 runs. 1892Pall Mall G. 30 May 1/3 It would seem as if Sussex has a very bad ‘tail’ indeed this year, the last seven batsmen being good for 35 only in the first innings and for but 37 in the second. 1913J. B. Hobbs How to make Century xii. 82 The fast bowler..was bowling far too accurately for ‘tail’ batsmen to do much with him. 1926C. E. Montague Rough Justice iii. ix. 125 They seemed to be talking about the conflict then arising between the House of Lords and the..House of Commons. ‘If it comes to a Test Match,’ said Wynnant, ‘we'll lose. Too long a tail to our team.’ 1955Times 4 July 3/2 Due..to the obstinate wriggling of the tail, the last four Cambridge wickets more than doubled the score. 1977J. Laker One-Day Cricket 67 Marsh, with no support at all from the tail, was left high and dry with 52 not out.
b. spec. The inferior animals of a flock or herd.
1844Stephens Bk. Farm II. 39 The lambs, dinmonts, or wethers, that are drafted out of the fat stock, are called the sheddings or tails. 1886C. Scott Sheep-Farming 88 With overstocking..not only is there a greater ‘tail’ among the lambs, but the death rate is higher.
9. In various figurative uses.
1340Ayenb. 61 Zuyche byeþ ycleped ine writinge: tayles. Vor hi wreþ þe uelþes of zenne of riche men uor zom timlich guod, hueruore hi byeþ anlicned to þe trayle of þe uoxe. 1382Wyclif Deut. xxviii. 13 The Lord thi God shal sett thee into heed, and not into tayl [1388 the tail]. 1579Tomson Calvin's Serm. Tim. 1036/1 That the worde of God is a truth, a truth without a taile (as wee say). 1630S. Lennard tr. Charron's Wisd. i. xx. §8 (1670) 73 To swell and to be puffed up for every good and profitable action, is to shew his tail while he lifts up his head. 1742Col. Records Pennsylv. IV. 555 The names of ‘Imposter,..Invader of the Liberties of the People’ (with a Tail of et cetera's). 1786Cowper Let. to W. Unwin 24 Aug., I catch a minute by the tail and hold it fast, while I write to you. 1895B. M. Croker Village Tales (1896) 64 One of the last joints in the tail of precedence.
10. Short for tail-ill: see 14. Obs. or dial.
1577B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. iii. (1586) 133 A disease which they call the Woolfe, others the Taile, which is perceiued by the loosenesse or softnesse betwixt the iointes. 1741Compl. Fam.-Piece iii. 472 The Disease called the Tail, is by some Farmers called the Wolf.
11. Phrases.
†a. tail on end, said lit. of some beasts when running with the tail erect; hence attrib., headlong; precipitate(ly).
1790R. Tyler Contrast ii. ii, I was glad to take to my heels and split home, right off, tail on end. 1850R. G. Cumming Hunter's Life S. Afr. (ed. 2) I. 98 note, Hunted on horseback, and ridden down by a long, severe, tail-on-end chase. Ibid. 120 The oryx leading me a cruel long chase due north, tail-on-end, from my waggons.
b. with the tail between the legs, lit. of a dog or other beast; fig. with a cowed and dejected demeanour.
c1400Lanfranc's Cirurg. 59 A wood hound..renneþ hidirward & þidirward..wiþ..his tail bitwene hise leggis. 1842F. A. Kemble Let. 6 May in Rec. Later Life (1882) II. 218 She has scornfully..departed with her tail over her shoulder, leaving the behind scenes of Her Majesty's Theatre with their tails between their legs. 1884W. E. Norris Thirlby Hall xii, We shall have you back here very soon..with your tail between your legs. 1897Westm. Gaz. 22 Jan. 2/3 If this sneaking tail-between-the-legs policy is persisted in no more Church votes for the Union!
†c. tail and top = top and tail: see top n.
1558T. Phaer æneid v. N j b, Headlong down in dust he ouerturnyd tayle and topp.
d. to turn tail (orig. a term of falconry), to turn the back; hence, to run away, take to flight.
a1586Sidney Arcadia ii. (1629) 109 Would shee..turne taile to the Heron, and flie out quite another way. 1587Greene Euphues his Censure Wks. (Grosart) VI. 192 To cast out no lure to such a haggarde as would turne taile to a full fist. 1589Puttenham Eng. Poesie iii. xxiv. (Arb.) 300 Such as retire from the Princes presence, do not by and by turne tayle to them as we do, but go backward or sideling for a reasonable space. 1611Markham Countr. Content. i. v. (1668) 34 Short winged Hawks..will many times neither kill their Game, nor flie their mark; but will give it over..and (as Faulconers term it) turn tail to it. 1639Laud in Rushw. Hist. Coll. (1721) ii. II. 899 For him to turn tail against my Lord Deputy must needs be a foul Fault. 1719De Foe Crusoe (1840) I. xx. 360 The wolves turned tail. 1807E. S. Barrett Rising Sun II. 128 Ashamed to avow that you are going to turn tail on your former principles.
e. to get one's tail down and varr., to become dispirited; to have one's tail up and varr., to be in good spirits.
1853‘P. Paxton’ Stray Yankee in Texas 97 To use an expressive Westernism, ‘Dave's tail was up’, and every possible preparation was made to preclude a failure. 1874Hotten Slang Dict. 318 Tail-down, ‘to get the tail down’, generally means to lose courage. When a professional at any game loses heart in a match he is said to get his tail down. ‘His tail was quite down, and it was all over.’ 1917G. S. Gordon Let. 26 Apr. (1943) 75 We were getting jaded till this touch of spring came, and now we have our tails up again, and are prepared to attack anything. 1921Punch 12 Jan. 23, I must try and keep my tail up. 1923Galsworthy Captures 190 He was a Northumbrian..and his ‘tail still up’, as he expressed it. 1928Sunday Dispatch 15 July 14, I sincerely hope that..standard producers..will not get their tails down over this ‘cheap record boom’. 1933Wodehouse Mulliner Nights iii. 93 ‘Tails up, Uncle Theodore, tails up!’ ‘Tails up!’ repeated the Bishop dutifully, but he spoke the words without any real ring of conviction in his voice. 1941C. Morgan Empty Room ii. 88 May be a snag somewhere. Usually is when one gets one's tail up about an idea. 1960[see balance n. 15 c]. 1978R. Mark Office of Constable xv. 187 Nevertheless, in dealing with the worst forms of crime our tails were well up.
f. two shakes of a lamb's tail (and varr.): see shake n.1 2 h.
a1855J. F. Kelly Humors of Falconbridge (1856) 137 In the wag of a dead lamb's tail. 1901Dialect Notes II. 142 ‘I'll do it in three jerks of a lamb's tail,’ i.e., very quickly. Ibid. 429 She got all cleared up in the whisk of a lamb's tail. 1917Ibid. IV. 402 Two jerks of a lamb's tail, n. phr., an instant, a jiffy.
g. the tail wags the dog, the less important or subsidiary factor dominates the situation; the proper roles are reversed.
[1907M. A. von Arnim Fräulein Schmidt xxvi. 84 Isn't it rather weak to let yourself be led round by the nose..? It is as though instead of a dog wagging its tail the tail should wag the dog.] 1935F. Scott Fitzgerald Let. 11 Mar. (1964) 260 This letter is a case of the tail (the parenthesis) wagging the dog. 1945Jrnl. R. Aeronaut. Soc. XLIV. 463/1 The aeroplane developing an undamped short period oscillation in which rapid movement of the rudder from side to side plays an essential part—the tail wagging the dog. 1956W. H. Whyte Organization Man ii. 19 The tail wagged the dog in this case and it still often does. 1968Listener 4 Jan. 23/3 Most producers are going to continue resisting..indulgence in an academic exercise. There's a danger of the tail wagging the dog. 1980Truck & Bus Transportation (Surry Hills, New South Wales) Feb. 26/2 Tractor response during the lane-change manoeuvre shows how the externally-applied force through the fifth wheel induces tractor lateral motion. This is better known as ‘tail wagging the dog’.
h. to be on someone's tail and varr., to follow or pursue someone closely (see also quot. 1925). Also fig.
[1865‘L. Carroll’ Alice's Adventures in Wonderland x. 151 There's a porpoise close behind us, and he's treading on my tail.] 1925Fraser & Gibbons Soldier & Sailor Words 275 Tail, to get on the, an Air Force expression for an attack on the rear of an opponent. 1937Partridge Dict. Slang 860/2 Tail, be—gen. shall or will be—on a person's, to look for, to pursue, a person with a view to punishing or severely scolding him: C. 20. 1962‘J. le Carré’ Murder of Quality iv. 54, I rather gathered..that his Chief Constable was treading on his tail, urging him to scour the country for tramps. 1971B. Malamud Tenants 71, I wouldn't want anybody else on my tail or in my hair, with or without cause. 1971M. Tak Truck Talk 154 Stay on his tail, to follow another truck closely. 1981Sunday Times 1 Feb. 63/5 Sir Hugh thought the Lonrho boss had put a private eye on his tail.
i. to chase one's tail, to indulge in a futile pursuit; to go round in circles.
1963Times 14 May 8/4 ‘We have been chasing our tails overlong,’ he said. ‘Given a Labour Government committed to the principles of equity and justice, a coordinated wages policy may be possible.’ 1973Archivum Linguisticum IV. 35 Is anything indeed to be gained from hunting for some notion embodying the cumulate surface exponency of..transitive and perfective..? It is all too easy at times to chase our conceptual tail.
j. Also crag and tail: see crag n.1 1 b. cut and long tail: see cut ppl. a. 9. head and (or, nor) tail: see head n.1 to twist the lion's tail: see lion n. 2 g. to put salt on the tail: see salt n.1 2 c. top over tail: see top n., and cf. sense 5.
12. attrib. or as adj.
a. Forming or situated at the tail, bottom, or rear, hindmost; as tail decoy, tail half, tail hound, tail van; coming from the rear, as tail-wind.
b. Forming the lowest or most inferior quality, as tail barley, tail corn, tail flour, tail meal, tail wheat.
a.1673S. C. Rules Civility 104 Flounders, Place, or the like;..the tail-half is the best. 1970T. Hughes Crow 15 He stuffed the head half headfirst into woman And it crept in deeper and up to peer out through her eyes Calling its tail-half to join up quickly. 1857Hughes Tom Brown i. vii, The tail hounds all straining to get up with the lucky leaders [in hare-and-hounds]. 1874J. W. Long Amer. Wildfowl xxv. 257 Wait until they are over the ‘tail’ decoys. 1891Daily News 23 Oct. 5/8 When the last train, with two engines, got through..the tail van is said to have been floating on the water. 1897Westm. Gaz. 1 Mar. 8/1 With a strong tail wind birds have accomplished more than sixty miles in the hour. 1927C. A. Lindbergh We iii. 39, I left Texarkana with a strong tail wind. 1976Evening Times (Glasgow) 1 Dec. 5/3 Tail winds across the Atlantic knocked up to an hour off the flying times of some transatlantic flights.
b.1765Museum Rust. IV. lxiii. 282 For tail barley..0l. 14s. 3d. 1851Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. XII. i. 133 The light or tail corn goes a considerable length in feeding the horses upon a farm. 1887O. Crawfurd Beyond Seas 35 The enemy's army but riff-raff and tail-corn fellows.
13. General combs.:
a. attributive, as tail-blotch, tail-cap, tail-feather, tail-fur, tail-plumage, tail-pocket, tail-quill, tail-ring, tail-spot, tail-stroke, tail-temptation, tail-tip, tail-tuft, etc.;
b. objective and obj. gen., as tail-dangler, tail-raiser, tail-wagger; tail-buffeting, tail-chasing, tail-pulling, tail-spreading, tail-switching, tail-wagging ns. and adjs.;
c. instrumental and locative, as tail-cropped, tail-decorated, tail-docked, tail-joined, tail-tied adjs.; tail-fisher, tail-fishing; also tail-like adj.; tail-down, tail-first, adjs. and advbs.; tail-foremost adv.
1872Coues N. Amer. Birds 99 *Tail-blotches small or obscure.
1931Flight 30 Jan. 90 To the new phenomenon the subcommittee gives the name ‘*tail buffeting’. 1947Times 8 Feb. 2/5 There was tail-buffeting within a certain speed range in very bumpy conditions.
1891Morgan Anim. Sk. 198 Each successive moult [of the rattlesnake] leaves an additional *tail-cap of dried skin and these constitute the rattle.
1921J. D. M. Rorke Musical Pilgrim's Progress iii. 49 The excitement and *tail-chasing demonstrations of a dog at the home-coming. 1957R. H. Smythe Conformation of Dog 123 Tail-chasing, spinning and walking in circles.
1892Kipling Cleared xv, Barrack-room Ballads 186 The *tail-cropped heifer's low.
1922Joyce Ulysses 646 It [sc. a horse] was a..*taildangler, a headhanger.
1916H. Barber Aeroplane Speaks 87 An inclinometer..which will indicate a nose-down position by increase in air speed, and a *tail-down position by decrease in air speed. Ibid. 113 If the angle of incidence..is too great, it will produce an excess of lift, and that way..result in a tendency to fly ‘tail-down’. 1935P. W. F. Mills Elem. Pract. Flying vii. 103 When brought too quickly into tail-down attitude their wings retain an uncomfortable degree of buoyancy for some little time.
1774Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) V. 97 The common eagle..the *tail feathers white, blackening at the ends.
1886Stevenson Kidnapped xviii. 171 Alan's morals were all *tail-first; but he was ready to give his life for them. 1904Blackw. Mag. June 818/2 A spaniel..dragged tail-first upstairs and downstairs by a child. 1914H. M. Buist Aircraft in German War v. 101 The latter quality lead to the original example of this tail-first machine being purchased by the Rumanian Army. 1945Sun (Baltimore) 7 Feb. 7-o/4 (heading) New ‘tail-first’ fighter plane appears to fly backward.
1865Tylor Early Hist. Man. xii. 355 To proceed now to the story of the *Tail-Fisher.
Ibid. 357 The curious mythic art of *Tail-fishing.
1875Morris æneid viii. 210 Which same..*Tail-foremost dragged he to his den.
1902Daily Chron. 18 Oct. 8/3 Ermine, spotted with the tips of the *tail-fur.
1649G. Daniel Trinarch. To Rdr. 172 *Tayle-Ioyn'd foxes hurrying Sylla's Nose, A Brand to wast the ffeilds.
1835–6Todd's Cycl. Anat. I. 208/2 The last segment of the *tail-like abdomen.
1849D. J. Browne Amer. Poultry Yd. (1855) 153 A well-developed *tail plumage.
1848Thackeray Van. Fair xiii, The head of the family thrust his hands into the great *tail-pockets of his great blue coat.
1681Grew Musæum i. iv. iii. 75 The two *Tail-Quills of the same [Tropick Bird]. 1894Newton Dict. Birds 705 In some [penguins] the tail-quills, which are very numerous, are also long.
1907Macm. Mag. July 673 His [a tiger's] *tail rings were very finely marked.
1872Coues N. Amer. Birds 101 Wing-bars and *tail-spots ordinary.
1891Morgan Anim. Sk. 138 The vigorous *tail-strokes..often leave their mark on the smooth surface of the water.
1905R. Garnett Shakespeare 97 *Tail-switching Lucifer, Hell's emperor.
1690C. Nesse O. & N. Test. I. 25 The Son of God..broke the serpents head, and leaves only *tail-temptations for us.
1904B'ness von Hütten Pam 135 If the proverbial worm had not only turned, but risen on its *tail-tip.
1910W. de la Mare Three Mulla-Mulgars xvii. 224 They sat, with *tail-tufts over their shoulders. a1930D. H. Lawrence Last Poems (1932) 260 The two lions who devoured one another, and left the tail-tufts wagging.
1948B. Vesey-Fitzgerald Bk. of Dog i. 114 Organisations, such as the *Tail Waggers Club, undertake to provide discs that can be attached to the collar. 1952Chambers's Jrnl. Apr. 239/1, I reckon that about 3,000,000 folk would have to look elsewhere for their bread and butter if there were no trawlermen—or fish. We mustn't forget the tail-waggers. 1982L. Cody Bad Company iii. 26 ‘What's this then? The Tail-Waggers Club? he asked as he..fended off the retriever's enthusiastic welcome.
1869Platts tr. Ikhwanu-s-Safa 70 If watching, barking, and *tail-wagging are required there, I am the one for it.
14. Special combinations: tail-area Statistics, an area under the curve of a frequency distribution lying between one end of the curve and any ordinate on the same side of the mode; tail assembly [assembly 1 c] Aeronaut. = empennage; cf. tail unit below; tailback: in U.S. Football, the player stationed farthest from the forwards; † tail-band = crupper n. 1; tail-bandage, a bandage divided into strips at the end; tail-bay, (a) the space between a girder and the wall: cf. bay n.3; (b) in a canal-lock, the narrow water-space just below the lock, opening out into the lower pond: see quot.; tail-beam, a beam that is tailed in, as to a wall; a tail-piece; † tail-bearer, a train-bearer; tail-binder: see quot.; tail-block, (a) Naut.: see quot. 1769; (b) in a sawmill carriage, a support of the log at the end where the cut ends; (c) in a lathe = tail-stock; tail-bond Building, a stone placed with its greatest length across a wall, serving as a tie to hold the face to the interior; tail-bone, any one of the caudal vertebræ in animals; also applied to the coccyx, when anchylosed into one bone; tail boom Aeronaut., one of the main spars of the longitudinal framework carrying the tail of an aeroplane when not supported by the fuselage; tail-box: see quot.; † tail-castle, the poop of a ship; tail-coat, a coat with tails; esp. a dress or swallow-tailed coat; hence tail-coated a.; tail comb, a comb with a tapering tail or handle used in styling to lift, divide, or curl the hair; tail cone Aeronaut., the conical rear end of the fuselage of an aircraft; tail-coverts (-covers) n. pl. Ornith., the feathers that cover the rectrices or quill-feathers of the tail in birds; divided into upper and lower, according to their position on the dorsal or ventral surface; tail-crab (cf. crab n.1 7): see quot.; tail-cut: see cut n.2 21 a; tail-dam Sc., the tail-race of a mill; tail-dragger Aeronaut., an aeroplane that lands and taxis on a tail wheel or tail skid, its nose off the ground; tail-drain: see quot. 1805; tail-ducat (Ger. Schwanzdukaten), a Prussian gold coin of Frederick William I (1713–40), worth about 10s. sterling, bearing the king's head with a queue; tail-dust: see quot.; tail-fan, in macrurous crustacea, the tail-end formed by the sixth pair of pleopods with the telson; tail fin, (a) the caudal fin of a fish; (b) Aeronaut. (see quot. 1940); (c) an upswept ornamental projection forming a continuation of the fender line at the rear of a motor vehicle; tail-flap, (a) the tail of a crustacean; (b) Aeronaut., an adjustable control surface on the tail of an aircraft; tail-flower, a W. Indian araceous plant of the genus Anthurium; from its tail-like spicate inflorescence; tail-fly Angling, the fly at the end of the leader; a stretcher-fly; tail gas (see quot. 1967); tail-grape, a name for the species of Artabotrys, N.O. Anonaceæ, shrubs of tropical Africa and the East Indies; so called from the hook-like form of the flower-stalks, by the aid of which the fruit is suspended; tail gunner = rear gunner s.v. rear n.3 (and a.1) 9; tail-head, the root of an animal's tail; tail-heavy a., of a motor vehicle, boat, etc.: having a tendency for the rear end to bear down more than the front; hence tail-heaviness (used esp. with reference to aircraft); tail-hook Angling, the hook of a tail-fly; tail-hounds, the hounds in the tail of a pack; tail-house: see quot.; tail-ill, a name for palsy, supposed to be caused by looseness between the tail-joints; tail-joist, a joist tailed into the wall, a tail-piece; tail-knife: see quot.; tail-lamp, tail-light, the (usually red) light or lights carried at the rear of a train, motor-vehicle, aeroplane, etc.; tail-lobe, either of the two lobes of the caudal fin present in most fishes; tail-lock, a lock at the exit or lower end of a dock; tail-mill = tail-house; tail-muscle, any muscle in the tail of an animal; a caudal or coccygeal muscle; tail parachute Aeronaut., a deceleration parachute attached to the tail of an aircraft; tail-piles: see quot.; tail-pin, † (a) some part of an ancient gun or its carriage; † (b) a pin for the tail of a woman's gown; (c) the centre in the tail-spindle of a lathe; (d) Mus. (i) (see quot. 1961); (ii) a metal spike attached to the cello and other instruments to support them at the correct height from the ground; tailplane Aeronaut., the horizontal stabilizing surface of the tail of an aircraft; tail-pole, a wooden lever or turning beam by means of which a post- or windmill is turned to the wind; tail-rhyme, -rime = tailed rime (tailed1 1 d); hence tail-rimed a.; tail-rod, a continuation of the piston-rod, which passes through the back cover of the cylinder, and serves to steady the piston and rod by giving the former a double bearing; tail-rot = tail-ill; tail rotor Aeronaut., an auxiliary rotor at the tail of a helicopter designed to counterbalance the torque of the main rotor; tail-screw, in a lathe, the screw which moves the back centre tail-spindle to and fro: the tail-piece; tail-seed, the small ill-developed part of a quantity of seed; tail-shaft, in screw steamships, that section of the shaft nearest the propeller; † tail-shot = tail-ill (obs.); so † tail-shotten a.; tail skid [skid n. 2 f] Aeronaut., that part of an aircraft's landing gear which supports its tail; tail-slide Aeronaut. (see quot. 1969); tail-slip = tail-ill; tailsman rare, a ploughman; tail-soaked a.: see quot.; tail-spindle, the spindle in the tail-stock of a lathe; tail-stern, the tail-piece of a musical instrument; tail-stock = dead-head 2 b: see quot.; tail-tackle, a handy tackle consisting of a double and a single block, or two double blocks, having the strop of one of the double blocks lengthened as in a tail-block; tail-trimmer Building: see quot.; tail-twisting, the twisting of a tail or tails; (a) lit. in the fur-trade; (b) in political slang, the act of ‘twisting the lion's tail’: see lion 2 g; (c) in gen. fig. use, harassment or malicious annoyance; hence tail-twist v., tail-twister; tail unit Aeronaut. = empennage; tail-valve, (a) the air-pump valve in some forms of condenser; (b) = snifting-valve; tail-van, the last van of a train; tail-vice, a small hand-vice with a tail or handle to hold it by (Webster 1864); tail-walking , the movement of fish over the surface of water by means of propulsion with the tail; hence (as a back-formation) tail-walk v. intr.; tail-water, the water in a mill-race below the wheel, or in a canal or navigable channel below a lock; tail wheel Aeronaut. = tail skid above; tail-worm = tail-ill; tail-worts, a name given by Lindley to plants of the N.O. Triuridaceæ.
1957Kendall & Buckland Dict. Statistical Terms 290 *Tail area (of a Distribution). 1971D. C. Hague Managerial Economics vii. 153 If we want to take the probability of there being less than 2 in of rain, we take the area of the first two bars [of the histogram], and so on. If we do this, we are said to be considering tail areas.
1968Globe & Mail (Toronto) 3 Feb. 1/2 The wreckage was a compacted heap of rubble... Only the *tail assembly was intact. 1977J. Cleary High Road to China iv. 128 The plane quivered..then the nose came up, the quivering slid out through the tail-assembly.
1930R. C. Zuppke Coaching Football vii. 208 The *tail-back is four and one-half yards back of the scrummage line and directly back of the fullback. 1980Washington Post 10 Oct c6/5 Of the six Rattler touchdowns Keith pointed out FAMU ‘earned’ only one: the 69-yard first-quarter run by tailback Archie Jones.
1483Cath. Angl. 377/1 A *Taylbande (A. Taylle bande), caudile, subtela.
1856S. C. Brees Gloss. Terms, *Tail bays, a name given to common joists when one end is framed in a girder and the other rests on a wall. 1875Knight Dict. Mech. s.v. Lock, The tail bay or aft-bay, below the lock-chamber.
1598Marston Sco. Villanie ii. v, Codrus my well-fac't Ladies *taile-bearer (He that..play'th Flauias vsherer).
1828Craven Gloss., *Tail-binder, a long stone..which rests upon the corner stone,..to bind, or give strength to the wall.
1769Falconer Dict. Marine (1776), *Tail-block, a small single block, having a short piece of rope attached to it, by which it may be fastened to any object..either for convenience, or to increase the force applied to the said object. 1829Marryat F. Mildmay viii, A tail block was attached to the boom-iron. 1881Young Ev. Man his own Mechanic §591 The tail-block [of a lathe] has a sliding spindle worked by the screw and wheel.
1776G. Semple Building in Water 141 The Headers, Stretchers and *Tail-bonds.
1548–77Vicary Anat. ix. (1888) 74 Three carti'aginis spondels of Ossa caude, called the *tayle bone. 1898Syd. Soc. Lex., Tail-bone, the coccygeal vertebræ; coccyx, or os coccygis.
1913Flight 23 Aug. 927/1 One of our sketches shows the method of joining the struts to the *tail booms. 1969K. Munson Pioneer Aircraft 1903–14 142/1 The three tubular steel tailbooms formed a triangular section, and the tail control wires were led through the uppermost boom, which also acted as a propeller bearing.
1895Raymond Smoke of War 22 The *tail-box—one part of that revolving dome at the head of a stone [wind-] mill by which the sails are brought to face an ever-shifting wind.
1585Higins Junius' Nomenclator 222/1 Puppis,..la poupe, the hind decke, or *taile castell.
1847Alb. Smith Chr. Tadpole ix. (1879) 86 He was..going to put on a *tail-coat for the first time. 1879Stevenson Trav. Cevennes (1895) 16 A tall peasant..arrayed in the green tail-coat of the country. 1889Hickson Naturalist in N. Celebes 10 The visitor must assume a black tail-coat, a white shirt with a black tie,..and, pro forma, a hat.
1850Lynch Theo. Trinal xi. 211 How he was born, cradled, schooled, *tailcoated, colleged, and the like.
1782J. Woodforde Diary 24 Apr. (1926) II. 19 To a *Tail Comb and another Comb for Nancy of Baker pd. 0. 0. 10. 1855F. Duberly Let. 22 July in E. E. P. Tisdall Mrs. Duberly's Campaigns (1963) v. 153 Oh, please will you send me a tail comb in the box. 1907Yesterday's Shopping (1969) 110/1 Tail or curling combs—buffalo horn. 1930V. Sackville-West Edwardians i. 38 Don't drag my hair back... Give me the tail comb... It wants more fullness at the sides. 1976J. Grenfell Joyce Grenfell requests Pleasure xvii. 246 Her dark hair was kept neat in a fine net... A tail-comb raised the waves.
1944H. F. Gregory Anything a Horse can Do xxi. 216 The tail rotor and approximately the last four feet of the *tail cone were broken completely. 1978Tail cone [see sense 2 m above].
1861P. B. Du Chaillu Equat. Afr. xvi. 306 Its back, *tail-cover, and very long flowing tail are pure milk-white.
1815Stephens in Shaw Gen. Zool. IX. i. 6 *Tail-coverts grey. 1849D. J. Browne Amer. Poultry Yard (1855) 21 The wing coverts on the shoulders, and the tail coverts are dark-greyish.
1883Gresley Coal Mining Gloss., *Tail crab, a crab for overhauling and belaying the tail rope in pumping gear.
1791Rep. Nav. Thames & Isis 12 A *tail Cut from a Lock on River Navigations should be as short as possible.
1903Lumsden Toorle v. i. 100 His speech rusht out o' the mou' o' him like water out o' a *tail dam.
1971Flying Apr. 39/2 If you trace the 172 back to the rag⁓wing 170 *taildragger of 1948. 1981R.A.F. News 14 Jan. 12/3 The Chipmunk is well suited to the unit's role because, as a taildragger, it introduces characteristics that ‘sort out the men from the boys’.
1805R. W. Dickson Pract. Agric. II. 923 *Tail-Drain, the principal ditch which conveys the water out of the meadow. 1842J. Aiton Domest. Econ. (1857) 183 Taking the levels, and laying off the main feeders, the floating gutters, the tail drains,..and the main drain to carry away the whole water.
1864Carlyle tr. Linsenbarth (1750) in Fredk. Gt. xvi. v, A Secretary came..told down on the table five *Tail-ducats (Schwanz-dukaten), and a Gold Friedrich under them.
1764Museum Rust. III. lxi. 281 The *tail⁓dust, which falls through the screen whilst the malt is cleaning before it is put up in sacks,..may be applied to a better use.
1893Stebbing Crustacea xi. 146 Except in the Lithodidæ, that [pair of pleopods] belonging to the sixth segment is always present, this pair with the telson forming the Rhipidura or *tail-fan.
1681Grew Musæum i. v. i. 85 The *Tail-Finn, as it were half a Finn, being ½ a foot high. 1835–6Todd's Cycl. Anat. I. 562/2 The horizontal position of the tail-fin..distinguishes the cetacean from the fish. 1940Chambers's Techn. Dict. 333/1 Fin, in an aeroplane, a fixed vertical surface giving lateral stability of motion; usually placed at the tail, then sometimes called a tail fin. 1945W. Langewiesche Stick & Rudder vii. 115 The purpose of the horizontal tail fin is not to hold the tail up, but to hold it down; it is a sort of wing, but a wing set at a negative Angle of Attack. 1954Wall St. Jrnl. 22 Oct. 16/6 Its [sc. the car's] high fender-line sweeps backward in a straight line but is slightly lower at the tail fins than at the headlights. 1974P. Dickinson Poison Oracle i. 22 The plane lay still... The symbol of the rising sun stared from the tall tail fin. 1982Quarto Mar. 7/4 The American family car was a 425-horsepower, twenty-two-foot-long Buick Electra with tail fins in back.
1847–8H. Miller First Impr. v, Her [female lobster's] dorsal plates curve round from the joint at the carapace till the *tail-flap rests on her breast. 1913A. E. Berriman Aviation p. xxiv, The glide..as the pilot switches on at the last moment and cocks up the tail flap to flatten out ere touching the ground. 1980J. Ditton Copley's Hunch ii. i. 115 The tail-flaps were working all right, because he zoomed up and over to gain height.
1884Miller Plant-n. 161 Anthurium, Banner-plant, Flamingo-plant, *Tail-flower.
1883Century Mag. XXVI. 378 For a stretcher or *tail-fly.
1948Economist 31 July 193/2 *Tail gases..carried..by pipe-line..will replace some of the coke at present used..for the production of ammonia, methanol and petrol. 1967Gloss. Terms Gas Industry (B.S.I.) 12 Tail gas, refinery gas which is not required for further processing in the refinery.
1884Miller Plant-n. 163 Artabotrys, *Tail-grape.
1939War Illustr. 29 Dec. 539/2 The *tail gunner reported ‘Fighters on our tail’. 1971P. O'Donnell Impossible Virgin xii. 246 A bloke called Worsfold, tail-gunner in a Lancaster during the war..fell over seven thousand feet... Only broke a leg and a few ribs.
1704Lond. Gaz. No. 4018/4 A pretty large white Hound Bitch, with..a Tann'd Spot on her Fore⁓head, and another on the *Tail-head. 1844Stephens Bk. of Farm II. 164 The first point..handled is the end of the rump at the tail head. 1901Westmorld. Gaz. 26 Oct. 5/3 Lost, three Ewes and two Lambs,..ewes marked across tail-head.
1919,1930*Tail-heaviness [see nose-heaviness s.v. nose n. 18]. 1977D. Beaty Excellency vi. 83 The tail-heaviness had been deliberate..this ingenious way of getting rid of him.
1916H. Barber Aeroplane Speaks 110 The aeroplane will, in flight, be nose-heavy or *tail-heavy. 1923G. Sturt Wheelwright's Shop 223 Tail-heavy, the opposite fault to fore-heavy. In a tail-heavy cart the tendency was to lift the horse off the ground. 1957[see scorch v.1 3]. 1978R. V. Jones Most Secret War xvi. 131 The weight of two cameras, about 120 lbs., would pull back the centre of gravity of the aircraft making it ‘tail heavy’ and dangerous to fly.
1888Goode Amer. Fishes 8 Use a ‘*tail-hook’ to avoid the risk of losing the minnow without gaining the Perch.
1852R. S. Surtees Sponge's Sp. Tour (1893) 50 The last of the *tail-hounds are flying the fence out of the first field.
1881Raymond Mining Gloss., *Tail-house, Tail-mill, the buildings in which tailings are treated.
1824Mactaggart Gallovid. Encycl. s.v. Yirb-wives, When a cow takes the *Tailill, or is Elfshot, these females are sent for to cure them. 1846J. Baxter Libr. Pract. Agric. (ed. 4) II. 134 This complaint is traced to a most ridiculous cause. The original evil is said to be in the tail; and all maladies of this kind, involving the partial or total loss of motion of the hind limbs of the animal, are classed under the name of tail-ill, or tail-slip.
1667Primatt City & C. Build. 80 Observe that the Carpenter doth pin all his *Tayl-Joynts, they being apt to slip.
1820Scoresby Acc. Arctic Reg. II. 233 A ‘*tail-knife’,..used for perforating the fins or tail of a dead whale.
1891Cent. Dict., *Tail-lamp. 1908Westm. Gaz. 17 Nov. 5/2 Side lamps, tail lamp, head⁓light with separate generator.
1844Illustr. Lond. News 14 Dec. 374 Each train..is provided with..red *tail lights. 1903Westm. Gaz. 28 Jan. 5/1 He did not slow even when the red tail-lights of the standing local train were seen. 1937Esquire Jan. 64/3 He turned and watched the red tail-light sink into the distant darkness. 1946R. A. McFarland Human Factors in Air Transport Design xii. 610 The pilot..had..mistaken the taillight of the stationary D.C.-3 for one of a row of..boundary lights. 1978S. Brill Teamsters vii. 286 Only one man was working the night shift, replacing some tail lights on a trailer.
1907J. E. Ewart in Q. Rev. Apr. 558 At the base of the long dock there is no vestige of a *tail-lock.
1891Cent. Dict., *Tail-muscle. 1898Syd. Soc. Lex., Tail muscle, coccygeus, depressor of the tail.
1937Jrnl. R. Aeronaut. Soc. XLI. 731 The Russian plane A.N.T.6 which was the first to land at the pole was provided with a *tail parachute, which was released as soon as the skis touched the ice. 1978A. Welch Bk. of Airsports ii. 29/2 Tail parachutes are ‘one-shot’ drag producers and are more useful as an emergency aid.
1837in Civil Eng. & Arch. Jrnl. I. 6/1 The component parts of a groin are piles, planking, land-ties,..*tail-piles and keys, and screw⁓bolts. Ibid. 6/2 The relative proportions of the component parts are, four piles, one land-tie with tail-piles and keys [etc.].
1497Naval Acc. Hen. VII (1896) 84 Lymores with boltes forlokkes kayes lynces and a *taile pynne for the said Curtowe. c1540Heywood Four P.P. in Hazl. Dodsley I. 351 The trimming and pinning up their gear; Specially their fiddling with the tail-pin. 1884E. Heron-Allen Violin-Making xi. 195 The Tail-pin..is the peg of ebony or box-wood, which is firmly fixed into the bottom block..to which is fastened the loop..of the tail-piece. 1887Cassell's Encycl. Dict., Tail-pin, the back-centre pin of a lathe. 1923E. Van Der Straeten Technics Violoncello Playing (ed. 4) iii. 18 The use of the tail pin is now generally adopted, and offers the double advantage of steadying the instrument and strengthening its tone. 1946R. Alton Violin & 'Cello Building vii. 60 The tail-rest..over which the tail-gut passes on its way to the tail-pin, must now be inserted. Ibid. xv. 147 With a tapered reamer fit the tail-pin into its place, gradually enlarging the hole until the tail-pin fits. 1961A. C. Baines Mus. Instr. through Ages 358 Tailpin, the button let into the bottom block of a violin, etc., to which the tailpiece is attached by a gut loop. 1978Early Music Oct. 530/2 My own contribution to this debate..is concerned with thicknesses and struttings, lengths and positions of necks, bridge heights and string angles and tailpin hitches.
1909A. Berget Conquest of Air ii. iv. 189 *Tail planes. 1911[see empennage]. 1948‘N. Shute’ No Highway i. 8 It had only been necessary to break one of these expensive tailplanes for the strength tests for the airworthiness of the machine. 1979D. Kyle Green River High xvii. 219, I tested the tailplane's firmness to be sure it would take my weight.
1945Archit. Rev. XCVIII. 71 This ‘winding’ of the mill was first accomplished by pushing the whole body of a post mill round by means of the ‘*tail pole’, which projected downwards through the ladder. 1968J. Arnold Shell Bk. Country Crafts 170 The problem of keeping the sweeps or sails into the wind was originally met by manual labour at the ‘tail-pole’, or turning beam.
1838E. Guest Hist. Eng. Rhythms II. iv. i. 289 This, like the interwoven and *tail-rhime, seems to have been first used by the Latinist. 1916J. E. Wells Man. Writings Middle Eng. I. 86 Lines 3411 to the end are in tail-rime stanzas. 1945Tail-rhyme [see rime n.1 2 e] 1982N. & Q. June 242/2 With certain common patterns, of couplets, quatrains, and versions of the tail-rhyme stanza, predominating.
1886Schmirgel in Sir Beues (E.E.T.S.) App. xlv, Romances with *tail-rhymed stanzas.
1894Times 26 June 12/1 Rods, which pass through the covers of the low-pressure cylinders after the manner of a *tail-rod. 1896Kipling Seven Seas 43 Yon orchestra sublime Whaur-to..the tail-rods mark the time.
1847W. C. L. Martin Ox 139/2 Palsy, or paralysis. This disease..bears among farmers and cow⁓leeches the ridiculous names of joint-yellows, *tail-rot, tail-ill, or tail-slip.
1944H. F. Gregory Anything a Horse can Do x. 107 The control stick..would decrease the pitch of the blades on the right horizontal *tail rotor. 1979Jrnl. R. Soc. Arts CXXVII. 571/1 The helicopter for replacement of Sea King is rather a noisy beast, in that it has a tailrotor.
1786Young's Ann. Agric. V. 114 (E.D.D.) *Tail-seed from my seed-mill.
1888Kipling Day's Work (1898) 277 When d'ye ship a new *tail-shaft? 1897Westm. Gaz. 8 July 5/2 The tail-shaft got bent and could not be rectified, consequently the ship became disabled. 1901Scotsman 5 Mar. 7/8 Accidents principally of the kind known as tail-shaft breakages.
1790J. Woodforde Diary 5 Feb. (1927) III. 169 My poor Cow rather better this morning, but not able to get up as yet, she having a Disorder which I never heard of before or any of our Somersett Friends. It is called *Tail-shot, that is, a separation of some of the Joints of the Tail about a foot from the tip of the Tail, or rather a slipping of one Joint from another.
1798Ibid. 1 Aug. (1931) V. 130 She is *tail-shotten, & hath something of the Gargut.
1913A. E. Berriman Aviation iii. 25 The *tail-skid is comparatively an insignificant member of the design: provided it serves its purpose as a protection. 1973J. D. R. Rawlings Pictorial Hist. Fleet Air Arm ii. 18 The fourth broke his tailskid and had to abort the sortie.
1916H. Barber Aeroplane Speaks ii. 73 Should the surface tend to assume too large an angle..the pressure D decreases, with the result that C.P. moves forward and pushes up the front of the surface, thus increasing the angle still further, the final result being a ‘*tail-slide’. 1969Gloss. Aeronaut. & Astronaut. Terms (B.S.I.) ii. 2 Tail slide, rearward motion of an aircraft along its longitudinal axis from a vertical or near vertical, stalled attitude.
1846*Tail-slip [see tail-ill].
1867D. G. Mitchell Rural Stud. 121 Every man who can use a hoe or a pitchfork is supposed to be a competent *tailsman for the plow.
1766Compl. Farmer, *Tail-soaked, a disease incident to cows, by which the joint of the tail near the rump, will, as it were, rot away.
1864Webster, *Tail⁓stock, the sliding block or support, in a lathe, which carries the tail-screw and adjustable center.
1859F. Griffiths Artil. Man. (1862) 318 If the moveable block of a tackle be strapped with a tail, it is called a tail, or jigger block: and the tackle a *tail, or jigger tackle.
1823P. Nicholson Pract. Build. 594 *Tail-trimmer, a trimmer next to the wall, into which the ends of joists are fastened.
1898Westm. Gaz. 9 Dec. 7/1 He was..in the hands of clerks and restless explorers who longed to *tail-twist and otherwise annoy.
1887Kipling Plain Tales from Hills (1888) 77 The Colonel's Wife..went away to devise means for ‘chastening the stubborn heart of her husband’. Which, translated, means, in our slang, ‘*tail-twisting’. 1889Edwardes Sardinia 375 A terrible amount of tail-twisting, kicking and anathematization. 1896Westm. Gaz. 4 Nov. 1/3 If the temper of the British lion is at all affected by the tail-twisting process, he must be in a rage just now and roaring loudly. Tail-twisting seems to be the principal employment of the New York Bryanites. 1902Daily Chron. 13 May 10/6 Fur Trade.—Girls wanted, used to boa and tail twisting. 1937E. Linklater Juan in China ii. 58 He had no reason to feel friendly..and the idea of a little tail-twisting was pleasant. 1982W. J. Burley Wycliffe's Wild-Goose Chase vi. 110 If there is any attempt at tail twisting you can rely on me to see 'em off.
1926Chambers's Jrnl. Aug. 580/1 In every aeroplane the *tail unit..comprises the rudder [etc.]. 1977D. Beaty Excellency i. 8 A lot of junk..six DC6 wheels, a Viscount tail unit.
1839R. S. Robinson Naut. Steam Eng. 131 It will have to pass through the blow-through, or *tail valve. 1885C. G. W. Lock Workshop Receipts Ser. iv. 99/2 It is usual to fix an extra valve, called a ‘tail’ valve, to prevent the water from running out of the pipe when not in use.
1971W. Hillen Blackwater River viii. 72 The trout leaped, *tail-walked, shook himself, leaped again, and ran past the raft for deep water. 1979Angling July 53/2 A fish hits the bait. It runs, leaps, tail-walks.
1946Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch 16 June 12-b/2 Oh yes, there are certain salt-water fish which do a certain kind of *tail-walking, but the way the bass performs these antics is peculiar to himself. 1970Islander (Victoria, B.C.) 25 Oct. 3/3 Out in the salt-chuck where he [sc. a salmon] has a whole ocean to play in you can expect to see some fancy tail-walking.
1759Smeaton in Phil. Trans. LI. 138 An overshot [wheel], whose height is equal to the difference of level, between the point where it strikes the wheel and the level of the *tail-water. 1825J. Nicholson Operat. Mechanic 103 When the water in the mill-tail will not run off freely, but stands pent up in the wheel-race, so that the wheel must work or row in it, the wheel is said to be tailed, or to be in back-water or tail⁓water. 1905Westm. Gaz. 17 Mar. 9/1 At Molesey Lock the tail water was almost five feet above the summer level.
1910R. Ferris How it Flies xx. 472 *Tail wheel, a wheel mounted under the rear end of an aeroplane as a part of the alighting gear. 1933Jrnl. R. Aeronaut. Soc. XXXVII. 29 But with the advent of tail wheels, that difficulty should not arise. 1981Pilot Jan. 12/2 A 110 hp tailwheel model.
1811G. S. Keith Agric. Surv. Aberdeen 491 The *tail⁓worm is also cured by cutting off a few inches of the tail, which bleeds pretty freely. 1816L. Towne Farmer & Grazier's Guide 67 Tail Worm. In that Part of the Tail which is affected..the Spine appears deprived of Sensibility.
1846Lindley Veg. Kingd. 213 Triuridaceæ. *Tailworts.
▪ II. tail, n.2|teɪl|
Forms: 4–6 tayle, tayll, taill, 4–8 taille, taile, 5–7 taylle, (5 tayille, 6 tall), 4– tail.
[a. OF. taille cut, cutting, division, partition or assessment of a subsidy or impost, tax (12th c. in Hatz.-Darm.), vbl. n. f. taillier to cut, tail v.2 But, in sense 4, OF. taille was perh.:—L. tālea, med.L. tālia stick, rod: cf. tally.
Tail in K. Alisaunder 2217 (Weber) appears to be a scribal error; MS. Bodley, Laud Misc. 622, has ‘among the toyle Hardapilon’.]
I.
†1. Shape, fashion, bodily form or appearance. [F. taille; cf. cut n.2 17.] Obs. rare.
a1300Cursor M. 11855 (Cott.) Yee se he has na mans taill [v. rr. taille, tale, taile] Þar-for yee sai me your consaill. c1325Poem Times Edw. II 282 in Pol. Songs (Camden) 336 A newe taille of squierie is nu in everi toun.
II.
†2.
a. The individual assessment of a subsidy or tallage levied by the king or lord; a tax, impost, due, duty, or payment levied. Obs.
1340Ayenb. 38 Kueade lordes..þet be-ulaȝeþ þe poure men: þet hi ssolden loki, be tayles, be tornees. 1375Barbour Bruce xii. 320 Gif ony deis in this battaill, His air, but ward, releif, or taill, On the first day his land sall weild. a1450Knt. de la Tour (1906) 89 That quene..dede mani aduersiteez to the pepille, by tailez and subsidiez. 1456Sir G. Haye Law Arms (S.T.S.) 93 Kirk men suld pay tailles, tributis and imposiciouns to seclere kingis. c1460Fortescue Abs. & Lim. Mon. i. (1885) 109 [The king] mey sett vppon thaim tayles and other imposicions, such as he wol hym self, with owt thair assent. a1577Sir T. Smith Commw. Eng. (1633) 59 The Yeoman or Husbond man is no more subject to taile or taxe in England. 1645Milton Tetrach. Wks. 1851 IV. 254 Not the drudging out a poore and worthlesse duty forc't from us by the taxe, and taile of so many letters.
‖b. Now only as Fr., in form taille |tɑj|. A tax formerly levied upon the unprivileged classes in France.
a1533Ld. Berners Huon lx. 210 He hath reysyd vp in all his londes new taylles & gables & impossessyons. 1554Wotton Let. 29 July in State Pap. Mary, Foreign IV. 193 (P.R.O.) The priuiledges of nobilite, emonge the which one is that the gentlemen pay nothing to the ordinarye taylles, which alle Fraunce payeth continuallye to the king. 1682Warburton Hist. Guernsey (1822) 48 They should be exempted from all gendarmeries, tailles. 1792A. Young Trav. France 30 The money is raised by tailles, and, in making the assessment, lands held by a noble tenure are so much eased, and others by a base one so burthened, that 120 arpents..held by the former, pay 90 liv. and 400 possessed by a plebeian right..is, instead of that, assessed at 1400 liv. 1863Kirk Chas. Bold I. v. 216 The taille and the gabelle levied on the villain burghers. 1877Morley Crit. Misc. II. 200 The great fiscal grievance of old France was the taille, a tax raised..only on the property and income of the unprivileged classes.
III. 3. Law. a. The limitation or destination of a freehold estate or fee to a person and the heirs of his body, or some particular class of such heirs, on the failure of whom it is to revert to the donor or his heir or assign. [Cf. tail a., tail v.2 5; = tailye n. 3.] Hence phrase in tail, as estate in tail, tenant in tail, heir in tail, i.e. within or under the limitation in question.
[1321–2Rolls of Parlt. I. 394/2 C'est son droit par vertu de la taille avantdit [i.e. an entail to heirs of the body of the spouses]. ]1373–5in Calr. Proc. Chanc. Q. Eliz. (1830) I. Pref. 59 An olde dede..comprisynge the wordes of a tayll made in Kynge Edwardes tyme the second. 1439in E.E. Wills (1882) 125 And aftir him and his issue, to Iohn his brother, and his issue in the taile. c1460Fortescue Abs. & Lim. Mon. xi. (1885) 136 To some parte þeroff the eyres off thaim þat some tyme owed it be restored; some bi reason off tayles, some bi reason off oþer titles. 1479in Bury Wills (Camden) 52 And after the decess of the seid Alice, I will that the seid maner shall remayne to the issues of my body lawfully begoten accordyng to the tayle therof made. 1523Fitzherb. Surv. 11 If the gyfte were in the tayle and no remaynder in fe euer, nowe the reuercyon resteth styll in y⊇ donor. 1607Cowell Interpr., Taile,..is vsed for the fee, which is opposite to fee simple: by reason that it is so..minced, or pared, that it is not in his free power to be disposed,..but is..tyed to the issue of the Donee... This limitation, or taile, is either generall, or speciall. 1718Prior Chameleon 7 As if the Rain-bow were in Tail Settled on him [a Chameleon] and his Heirs Male. 1766Blackstone Comm. II. vii. 115 The incidents to a tenancy in tail. 1796Morse Amer. Geog. I. 463 All estates given in tail..shall become fee simple estates to the issue of the first donee in tail [cf. quot. 1876]. 1868Rogers Pol. Econ. xiii. (1876) 177 The defendant a donee in tail, i.e. a person in whose behalf an estate tail had been created. 1876Bancroft Hist. U.S. V. xv. 516 All donees in tail, by the act of this first republican legislature of Virginia, were vested with the absolute dominion of the property entailed. 1893M. Cholmondeley D. Tempest iii, You're in the tail, I suppose?
b. With qualifying adjective: tail general, limitation of an estate to a man and the heirs of his body lawfully begotten; tail special, limitation of an estate to a special class of heirs, e.g. to a man and his wife and the heirs of their bodies lawfully begotten; tail male (or tail female), limitation of an estate to male (or female) heirs; also transf., the line of descent of dogs or horses, considering either the male or female ancestors.
1495Rolls of Parlt. VI. 485/1 Seised, in his or their Demeane as of Fee, Fee Tayll generall or speciall, or any other astate. 1503Hawes Examp. Virt. xiv. 10 To whome heuen by tayll generall Entayled is by a dede memoryall. 1642tr. Perkins' Prof. Bk. v. §302. 134 If Tenant in generall taile, take a wife and enfeoff a stranger, and take back an estate unto him and his wife in speciall taile. 1710Lond. Gaz. No. 4735/4 Then to his first Son in Tail Male, then to his Daughter in Tail general. 1766Blackstone Comm. II. vii. 113. 1796 Morse Amer. Geog. I. 707 They agreed to grant their lands in tail male in preference to tail general. 1844Williams Real Prop. (1877) 35 An estate in tail male cannot descend to any but males, and male descendants of males. Ibid., Tail female scarcely ever occurs. 1926Earl Bathurst Breeding of Foxhounds vii. 96 The top line perhaps may be considered important, for it represents the descent in tail-male. Ibid. 99 The Bruce-Lowe system..is..the importance of the female line, or ‘tail-female’. 1931Times Lit. Suppl. 23 Apr. 325/2 His blood is to be found in most of our ‘classic’ winners, and in tail female it never waned. 1957C. Leicester Bloodstock Breeding ix. 144 This..leaves untouched the tail female line, i.e. the dam, grandam, etc. of the animal under investigation. 1972Country Life 10 Feb. 332/1 One of Whipcord's descendants was the famous Four Burrow Pleader '38, whose ancestry can be traced..on his tail female to Mr. Darley's Damsel..and on tail male (through Whipcord) to the Brockelsby Bumper, 1748.
IV.
†4.
a. = tally n.1 1; hence, a score, an account. by tail, by means of tallies; on credit. (Cf. on tick.) Obs. [Cf. Cotgr. ‘Taille..also, a tallie, or score kept on a peece of wood’.]
[1114–18Leges Henrici I. c. 56 §1 Si..controuersia oriatur, siue de taleis agatur siue de supplecione in ipso manerio. 1312Rolls of Parlt. I. 284/1 Les gentz ount diverses acquitaunces, les unes par tailes & par brefs, & les unes par diverses fraunchises.] a1325tr. Estatuz del Eschekere (MS. Rawl. B. 520 lf. 36 b), Ȝif ani bringe taille ase of paie imad ate chekere. 1362Langl. P. Pl. A. iv. 45 He..bereþ awei my whete, And takeþ me bote a tayle [B. iv. 58 taile, taille] of Ten quarter oten. c1386Chaucer Prol. 570 Wheither that he payde, or took by taille [v.rr. taile, tayle]. 1443Hen. VI Let. in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. iii. I. 81 Ther shall be made and delivered..sufficient assignement for your repaiement therof by tailles to be rered at the said Eschequier. 1512Earl Northumberland's Househ. Bk. (1770) 172 The stok of the Tail to be delivert to the Brewar ande the Swatche to the Butler. 1530Palsgr. 184 Vnes taylles, a payre of taylles, suche as folke use to score upon for rekennyng. Ibid. 644/1, I nycke, I make nyckes on a tayle, or on a stycke, je oche. 1556Withals Dict. 56 a/2 A score or tayle to marke the dette vpon, tessera, vel tessella. 1607Cowell Interpr. s.v., Taile in the other signification, is what we vulgarly call a Tallie;..a clouen peece of wood to nick vp an accoumpt vpon. 1647City Law London 49 A Taile of debt ensealed by usage of the city, is as strong as an obligation. 1677Cary Chronol. i. i. i. i. 2 These were the Tailles (as I may so say) by which they marked..the Signal Occurrences of their Life.
†b. fig. Account, reckoning. Obs.
c1330R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 896 Wyþoute seriauntz & oþer pytaille Þat ar nought for to sette in taille. Ibid. 1316 Þre hundred schipes þer was in taille, And foure mo. 1421Coventry Leet Bk. 24 Hit is do the maiour to witt þat tauerners haue sold wyne to certen men of hur alye, be Tailes maid bytwen them, derre than þe maiour hathe ordenyd hit to be sold.
5. Comb. † tail-maker, (?) one who fashioned the tallies used in the Exchequer; † tailstick, a tally-stick. Obs.
1235–52Rentalia Glaston. (Som. Rec. Soc.) 217, j porcellum et taylstich' cujuslibet porci necati provenientis de sua custodia. a1577Sir T. Smith Commw. Eng. (1609) 71 Other officers are Tellers, Auditors, Collectors, rentgatherers, tailemakers.
▪ III. tail, a. Law.|teɪl|
[a. AF. taylé, tailé = OF. taillié, taillé, pa. pple. of taillier to cut, shape, hence, to fix the precise form of, to limit, tail v.2; the final e having become mute in ME. as in assign, avowe ns., and some other legal terms.]
Of a fee or freehold estate (= AF. fee taylé, med.Anglo-L. feodum tāliātum): Limited and regulated as to its tenure and inheritance by conditions fixed by the donor: thus distinguished from fee simple or absolute ownership: see quot. 1592. See also fee-tail, conditional a. 7.
[1284De Banco Roll, Mich. 11–12 Edw. I. m. 70 d. Quod predicta Emma non habuit in predictis tenementis nisi feodum talliatum secundum formam donacionis predicte. 1285Stat. Westm. ii. (13 Edw. I.) c. 4 Tenentes in maritagium per Legem Anglie, vel ad terminum vite, vel per feodum talliatum. [tr. 1543 tenantes in free maryage, by the lawe of Englande, or for terme of lyfe, or in fee taile.] 1292Britton ii. iii. §9 Des queus douns aucuns sount condicionels et dount le fee est taylé et en pendaunt jekes autaunt qe cele chose aveigne ou cele. 1294Year bks. 21–2 Edw. I (Rolls 1873) 641 Kar le estatut ‘quia emptores terrarum &c.’ est entendu la ou home feffe un autre en fee pur, e nent de fee tayle. ]1473Rolls of Parlt. VI. 81/1 That this Acte..extend not..to Sir Thomas Bourghchier Knyght, ne to his heires masles of his body lawfully begoten,..duryng the seid astate Taille, of, to, or for any Graunte or Grauntes unto hym made. 1473–5in Calr. Proc. Chanc. Q. Eliz. (1830) II. Pref. 58 To make and delyvere unto her a lawefull estate tayle of alle the forseid landes. 1592West 1st Pt. Symbol. §40 B, A perticuler estate of inheritance, is an estate taile or limited: that is an estate expressing in certaine, whose issue and of what Sexe shall inherite; and it is generall or speciall. 1628Coke On Litt. 26 If lands bee giuen to the husband & the wife, and to the heires which the husband shall beget on the body of the wife, in this case both of them haue an estate taile. 1766Blackstone Comm. II. vii. 112. 1818 Cruise Digest (ed. 2) I. 90 Estates tail, like estates in fee simple, have certain incidents annexed to them, which cannot be restrained by any proviso or condition whatever. 1895Pollock & Maitl. Hist. Eng. Law II. ii. iv. §1. 19 In 1285 the first chapter of the Second Statute of Westminster, the famous De donis conditionalibus, laid down a new rule. The ‘conditional fee’ of former times became known as a fee tail (Lat. feodum talliatum, Fr. fee taillé)..and about the same time the term fee simple was adopted to describe the estate which a man has who holds ‘to him and his heirs’.
▪ IV. tail, v.1|teɪl|
[f. tail n.1; in various unconnected senses.]
I. Transitive uses.
1. To furnish with a tail or final appendage.
(In early use only in the pa. pple.: see tailed ppl. a.1 1.)
1817Coleridge Satyrane's Lett. ii. 211 The cap behind tailed with an enormous quantity of ribbon. 1876Preece & Sivewright Telegraphy 224 A double shackle is fixed, and each side is first ‘tailed’, that is to say, a wire is passed round the porcelain and bound in the ordinary way, leaving one end projecting to a distance of from eighteen inches to two feet. 1879Baring-Gould Germany I. ii. 46 In England now anyone adopts arms, and tails his name with esquire, whether he have a right or not to these distinctions.
2. To grasp or drag by the tail.
† to stave and tail, to take part in bear-baiting or bull-baiting, by staving the bear or bull, or tailing the dogs.
1663Butler Hud. i. ii. 163 Lawyers, lest the Bear Defendant, And Plaintiff Dog should make an end on't, Do stave and tail with Writs of Error, Reverse of Judgment, and Demurrer. Ibid. iii. 134 First Trulla stav'd, and Cerdon tail'd, Until their Mastives loos'd their hold. 1867F. Francis Angling i. (1880) 12 Tailing a fish out is more often employed on salmon. 1892Mrs. J. Gordon Eunice Anscombe 177 One..dived forward in a vain attempt to ‘tail’ the otter. 1893Field 11 Mar. 360/2 Grasp it [the fish] above the tail—‘tail it’, to employ the technical phrase.
3. To dock the tail of (a lamb, etc.); to cut or pull off that which is regarded as the tail, esp. of a plant or fruit. (Cf. top v.)
1794Rigging & Seamanship I. 61 Hemp..should be well topt, and tailed; that is, both ends cleared by the hatchell. 1824L. M. Hawkins Mem., Anecd., etc. II. 52 A gentleman..was topping and tailing gooseberries for wine. 1844Stephens Bk. Farm II. 42 Another worker..tops and tails the turnips. 1886C. Scott Sheep-Farming 88 The number of lambs castrated and tailed.
4. To form the tail or last member of (a procession, etc.); to terminate. (Cf. head v. 10.)
1835Fraser's Mag. XI. 465 A male author heads and a male author tails the procession. 1890Pall Mall G. 9 June 4/2 The quaint little procession headed..by the officially-robed Lord Chancellor, and tailed by the blue-gowned Common Councilmen. 1894R. H. Davis Eng. Cousins 117 The boat which is to tail the procession.
5. a. In Australia and N.Z.: To follow, drive, or tend (sheep, cattle, or horses).
1844Port Phillip Patriot 5 Aug. 3/6, I know many boys from the age of nine to sixteen years tailing cattle. 1852Mundy Our Antipodes I. x. 314 The stockman..considers ‘tailing sheep’ as an employment too tardigrade for a man of action and spirit. 1852J. R. Clough Jrnl. 29 Feb. in J. Deans Pioneers of Canterbury (1939) 291, I have had to tail the cattle on foot this five weeks as I have had no saddle. 1871C. L. Money Knocking about in N.Z. ix. 133 The horses, after being ‘tailed’, or shepherded, all day by one of us.., were tied in rows..for the night. 1890‘R. Boldrewood’ Col. Reformer (1891) 239 The cattle..being..‘tailed’ or followed daily as a shepherd does sheep.
b. To follow someone closely; spec. to follow secretly as a detective or spy, etc. Cf. tag v.1 4 b, tail n.1 6 b. colloq. (orig. U.S.).
1907Everybody's Mag. Mar. 341/2 Detectives were assigned to ‘tail’ him. 1914Jackson & Hellyer Vocab. Criminal Slang 83 Tail, verb. General circulation. To trail; to follow. Used as a noun in the same sense. 1925E. Wallace Strange Countess ix. 81 ‘What's your idea in tailing me?’.. ‘‘Tailing’? Oh, you mean following you, I suppose?’ 1950D. Hyde I Believed viii. 88 For some months I was tailed by a curious assortment of police agents. 1956S. Plath in Granta 20 Oct. 22/2 Ben tailed us out to the kitchen, where the black old gas stove was, and the sink, full of dirty dishes. 1966T. Pynchon Crying of Lot 49 v. 130 Oedipa gave him half a block's start, then began to tail him. 1978S. Brill Teamsters iv. 127 I'm not gonna let you tail me like some kinda cop. 1978G. Greene Human Factor v. iii. 278 Castle led the way down the stairs to the cellar. Buller followed him and Mr Halliday tailed Buller.
6. U.S. local. (See quots.)
1792J. Belknap Hist. New Hampsh. III. 106 In descending a long and steep hill, they have a contrivance to prevent the load from making too rapid a descent. Some of the cattle are placed behind it; a chain..attached to their yokes is brought forward and fastened to the hinder end of the load, and the resistance which is made by these cattle checks the descent. This operation is called tailing. 1851Harper's Mag. III. 518 In this manner the load is tailed down steeps where it would be impossible for the tongue⁓oxen to resist the pressure of the load.
7. To attach to the tail or hind end of something else; to join on behind, annex, subjoin to.
1523Ld. Berners Froiss. I. xci. 113 They toke foure Englysshe shyppes..and tayled them to their shyppes. 1589Puttenham Eng. Poesie ii. xii. (Arb.) 128 Wordes monosillables,..if they be tailed one to another, or th' one to a dissillable or polyssillable. 1633J. Clarke 2nd Praxis 44 Ne is alwayes tayled to the first word of the Interrogation. 1681Rycaut tr. Gracian's Critick 224 They met great Mules tailed one to the other. 1685J. Scott Chr. Life ii. 155 What is this but to tail one folly to another? 1851Mayhew Lond. Labour II. 161/2 Each new row of houses tailed on its drains to those of its neighbours.
8. Building. To insert the tail or end of (a beam, stone, or brick) into a wall, etc.; to let in, dovetail.
1823P. Nicholson Pract. Build. 365 Party-walls may also be cut into for the purposes of tailing-in stone steps. c1850Rudim. Navig. (Weale) 155 To tail, or dovetail, to let one piece of timber into another.
9. pass. Of a mill-wheel: To be clogged by tail-water (q.v., s.v. tail n.1 14, quot. 1825).
10. slang. To copulate with (a woman).
1778in Weis & Pottle Boswell in Extremes (1971) 248 When we talk of pleasure, we mean sensual pleasure. When a man says he had pleasure with a woman, he does not mean conversation, but that he tailed her. 1846Swell's Night Guide 133/2 Tail, to cohabit with women. 1973J. Wainwright Devil you Don't 51 So, I tailed his wife... So what?
II. Intransitive uses.
11. Of a ship: To run aground stern foremost.
1725De Foe Voy. round World (1840) 147 She tailed aground upon a sand bank. 1799Naval Chron. I. 258 The Formidable..tailed on the..mud. c1850Rudim. Navig. (Weale) 117 It is to..preserve the main post, should the ship tail aground.
12. Of water, flame, etc.: To flow or creep back against the current; to run back, recoil.
1799Trans. Soc. Arts XVII. 349 Floods are very apt to dam or tail-back, and thereby impede or clog the..wheel. 1883Gresley Coal Mining Gloss. s.v., When fire-damp ignites..and the flame..creeps backwards against the current of air..it is said to tail back into the workings.
13. Of a moving body of men or animals:
a. To lengthen out into a straggling line, as in hunting, racing, etc.; to drop behind, fall away.
1781W. Blane Ess. Hunting (1788) 116 [The hounds] not being of equal speed..will be found to tail, which is an inconveniency. 1862G. J. Whyte-Melville Ins. Bar x. 1864Trevelyan Compet. Wallah (1866) 134 As down towards Barton Wold we sail, The Cockneys soon began to tail. 1897Thornton Remin. Clergyman i. 2 Then straggling, tailing, as the fox-hunters phrase it, up came the field.
b. To move or proceed in the form of a line or tail; to fall into a line or tail.
1859Kingsley Misc. (1860) I. 160 If ten men tail through a gap. 1882Mozley Remin. I. xix. 128 The congregation..came down the road in a dense black mass, but obliged to tail a little. 1899A. E. Holdsworth Valley Gr. Shadow x, The procession was tailing to Bergstein.
14. To take a position in which the tail or rear is directed away from the wind, current, etc.
1849Dana Geol. ii. (1850) 115 In more moderate weather the vessel tails out against the wind. 1860Maury Phys. Geog. Sea ii. 29 Sea-weed always ‘tails to’ a steady or a constant wind. 1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk. s.v., To tail up or down a stream, when at anchor in a river, is as a ship's stern swings.
15. Building. Of a beam, stone, or brick: To have its end let into a wall, etc.: cf. 8.
1842–76Gwilt Archit. Gloss. s.v., Where the end of a timber lies or tails upon the walls. 1892Middleton Rome I. 62 Blocks of tufa..tailing 3 to 5 inches into the concrete backing.
16. Of a stream: To flow or fall into. (Cf. head v. 7.)
1889Blackw. Mag. Apr. 456 note, The Dorak canal, which tails into the Jarrahi river. 1900Westm. Gaz. 10 July 2/2 All the channels and spills tailed into the Ziraf.
17. Of a fish: To show its tail at the surface.
1892in Daily News 21 May 5/2 The Man sees there is no fly up. The Man sees the fish are tailing. 1908Edin. Rev. Apr. 391 When trout are ‘tailing’ they break the surface with their caudal fin as they grub with their noses for water shrimps.
18. Calico-printing. Of a colour, etc.: To spread beyond its proper limits in a tail-like blur.
III. With adverbs.
19. tail away. intr. To fall away in a tail or straggling line; to die away.
1860Russell Diary India II. xix. 369 They were, however, tailing away fast, as we afterwards discovered. 1905R. Hichens Garden Allah vii, The aird, sunburnt tracts, where its life centred and where it tailed away into suburban edges not unlike the ragged edges of worn garments.
20. tail off (out).
a. trans. To cause to fall away gradually towards the end; to taper off.
1827H. Steuart Planter's G. (1828) 304 They [artificial hillocks] should be well ‘tailed out’, as the workmen call it,..letting their hard outline imperceptibly disappear, and, as it were, die away in the outline of the adjoining surface. 1842S. Lover Handy Andy v, He..finished it in a gentle murmur—tailed it off very taper, indeed.
b. intr. To fall away in a tail; to diminish and cease; to come gradually to an end; to subside.
1854Hooker Himal. Jrnls. I. xvii. 396 It tailed off abruptly at the junction of the rivers. 1862Lond. Soc. II. 86 Already the weaker horses are weeded out, and the poorer spirited are tailing off. 1898Allbutt's Syst. Med. V. 977 The dull sound of valvular tension may be heard to precede it [a cardiac bruit], when it ‘tails off’ from the first sound. 1905F. Young Sands of Pleasure i. iv, His voice tailed off into a sigh.
c. intr. To turn tail, take to flight, go or run off; to withdraw. colloq.
1830A. Sedgwick Let. 21 Nov. in J. W. Clark Life A. Sedgwick (1890) I. 366 Many men will tail off, if they have an excuse. 1841F. E. Paget S. Antholin's vii. 146 Mrs. Spatterdash..tailed off at last to a dissenting chapel. 1868― Lucretia 102 He ducked his head; made a slouching bow; tailed off to his pigs. 1877Kinglake Crimea VI. vi. 376 Some..even tailed off. 1885Rider Haggard K. Solomon's M. xvi, I was tailing out of it as hard as my legs would carry me.
d. trans. To pass and leave behind (other competitors in a race, etc.).
1852Bateman Aquatic Notes 52 They got close to them at Grassy [corner], but were tailed-off in the Long Reach. 1907Times 6 June 4/3 He was..one of the leaders for half a mile, but afterwards he was tailed off.
21. tail on.
a. trans. To add on as an appendage.
b. intr. To join on in the rear.
1825B. Hall 3 Jan. in Lockhart Scott, Anxious to tail on a branch from Melrose to meet the [projected railway from Berwick to Kelso]. 1862Mayhew Boyhood Luther i. (1863) 11 As the long train swept by, the peasants and villagers tailed on to the rest. 1874Burnie Mem. Thomas 451 A superb passenger car which tails on to the trucks. 1880Clark Russell Sailor's Sweetheart xiv, All hands tailing on, we ran it [a boom] through the bowsprit cap.
22. The vb.-stem in Comb. tail-back, a queue of stationary or slowly moving motor vehicles; tail-off colloq., a decline or tapering off of demand, etc.; a period of this.
1975D. Lodge Changing Places v. 188 They hit a tailback of rush-hour traffic in the Midland Road. 1978Times 26 July 8/3 One of the worst traffic jams in living memory with tailbacks of several miles.
1975D. Francis High Stakes vii. 109 There would be at first a patch of sporadic success..and then a long tail-off with no success at all. 1984Times 15 Feb. 20/7 Laurie Millbank does not envisage any tail off in demand.
▪ V. tail, v.2|teɪl|
Forms: 4–5 taille, 4–6 taylle, tayle, taile, (6 talle, tale), 6– tail.
[ME. taille, a. OF. taillier, 3 sing. pres. taille (S. Leger a 1000), to cut, shape by cutting, determine the form of, limit, etc.; in mod.F. tailler to cut, etc.; = Pr. talhar, talar, Cat. tallar, Sp. tajar, Pg. talhar, It. tagliare, to cut:—late pop. and med.L. tāliāre, talliāre, f. tal(l)ia, in cl. L. tālea rod, twig, cutting: see tally n.1 OF. taillier gave taille vbl. n., tail n.2, whence again taillier vb. to impose a tax on, to tax: see sense 6 below.]
I. In literal and connected senses.
†1. trans. To cut, esp. to a certain size or shape; to shape, fashion; well tailed, well shaped or fashioned. See also tailed ppl. a.2 1. Obs.
c1400Laud Troy Bk. 3154 Thenne by-gan this clerkes to tayle Parchemyn and lettres dite. 1422tr. Secreta Secret., Priv. Priv. 227 Thay that haue the shuldres hangynge downe-ward and welle taillet, bene fre and lyberall. 1558Acc. Fratern. Holy Ghost, Basingstoke (1882) 9 Paide..for fellinge the oke..Item payde..for tallinge and sawinge of the same.
†2. To cut up, cut to pieces, slaughter. Obs.
c1330R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 14136 Arthur sey þe day gan faille, He bod & stynte his folk to taille. [Taile in K. Alisaunder 2133 (Weber) is a scribal error; MS. Bodley, Laud Misc. 622 has (l. 2137) ‘Bigynneþ ȝoure fomen coile Alto sleiȝtte & nouȝth to spoyle’.] †3. To put into shape, trim, make ready. (Cf. OF. metre en taille.) Obs.
c1330R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 115 Dauid of Scotland hasted to þe bataile, Walter Spek ros on hand, þe folk to forme & taile. c1330― Chron. Wace (Rolls) 12081 Mariners dighte þem..þer takel for to righte & taille. c1375Sc. Leg. Saints xxiii. (vii Sleperis) 237 Þai..bad malchus he suld hyme taile, & pas to þe towne fore vitale.
II. [a. AF. tailler, OF. taillier in sense ‘to determine, fix, appoint’: cf. the Sc. form tailye. But, in sense 5, in later use app. f. tail n.2 3.]
†4. To decide or determine in a specified way; to settle, arrange, or fix (a matter).[OF. taillier: cf. c 1250 in Godef. ‘Puis fu la pais ensi taillie que..’.] c1315Shoreham Poems vii. 817 And was þat conseyl so y-tayled, Þat hyt ne myȝte habbe faylled To bote of manne. 1375Barbour Bruce xviii. 238 (Edin. MS.) At that tyme he wald him taile, To dystroy wp sa clene the land, That nane suld leve tharin liffand. 1375[see tailye v. 2]. c1425Wyntoun Cron. viii. 5309 (Cotton MS.) Had þe Talbot, as talyt [Wemyss MS. talȝeit] was, Iustit, he had suelt in þat plasse. 1472–3Rolls of Parlt. VI. 24/1 Yf the seid William Lord Berkeley and Johan his wyfe..cause or suffre any recovere to be had or tayled ayenst theym..by their covyne or assent.
5. trans. Law. To limit (an estate of inheritance) to the donee and his heirs general or special; to grant in tail (tail n.2 3); to tie up by entail; to entail.
[1292Britton ii. iii. §9: see tail a.] 1425in E.E. Wills 64 My lande þat is tayled to him. 1425Rolls of Parlt. IV. 274/2 By cause ye name of Duc of Norffolke is tailled to me, and to my heirs males of my body commyng: and ye name of Erel of Norffolke is tailled to me, and to my heirs of my body commyng generaly. 1483Ibid. VI. 253/1 Hereditaments, that were tailled to hym, or to eny other of his Auncesters, by dede or withoute dede. 1501Plumpton Corr. (Camden) 152 If Mr. Eleson can fynd any of your lands talled to the here male, send copies therof; I thinke none be. 1647N. Bacon Disc. Govt. Eng. i. xli. (1739) 66 In latter times this estate was also tailed, or cut out some⁓times to the Sons and Daughters severally. 1864Serjt. Manning in Athenæum 27 Feb. 302/2 The great land⁓holders..obtained an Act of Parliament, called the statute de donis, which directed that thenceforth the will of the donor should be strictly observed. Upon this the lands so tailed (appointed) became inalienable.
III. Related to tail tax, impost (tail n.2 2).
†6. trans. To impose a ‘tail’ or tax upon; to tax. [OF. taillier, med.L. tāl(l)iare, Du Cange.] Obs.
c1330R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 2382 Þe Duk of Cornewaille, Al þe souþ tyl hym gan taylle. Ibid. 16550 Ffro Scotland vntil Cornewaille, Al þe lond gan þey [the Saxons] taille. 1474Rolls of Parlt. VI. 165/1 That the Maier, Bailyfs and Cominalte..to xx li only..shulden be assessed, taxed and tailed. 1525Ld. Berners Froiss. II. lxii. [lxv.] 210 Nowe they tayle theyr people at theyr pleasure. a1577Sir T. Smith Commw. Eng. (1633) 263 In France the Lords doe taile them whom they call their subjects at their pleasure and cause them to pay summes of money.
IV. Related to tail a tally (tail n.2 4).
†7. trans. To mark or record on a tally; to charge (a person) with a debt; transf. to make a mark on, to mark. Obs.
1377Langl. P. Pl. B. v. 429 Ȝif I bigge and borwe it, but ȝif it be ytailled [v.r. tailled, 1393 C. viii. 35 y-tayled] I forȝete it as ȝerne. a1500Chester Pl. vii. 410 Nay, he come by night—all things lafte—Our tuppes with tar to tayle. 1655Fuller Ch. Hist. xi. i. §10 His bond of two thousand pounds wherewith he was tailed, continued uncancelled, and was called on the next Parliament.
†8. intr. To deal by tally, or on credit. Obs.
1514Sir R. Jernegan Let. in Strype Eccl. Mem. (1721) I. App. v. 10 They [of the garrison] had offered the victualers to taylle with them and to set it upon scores:..for mony they had none. 1570Foxe A. & M. (ed. 2) 413/1 He was in great debt..dryuen to tale [so edd. 1576–83; ed. 1596 tallie] for his owne cates.
†9. trans. To tally or agree with; to equal; = tally v.1 5. Obs.
1638Ford Lady's Trial iii. iii, Sure this bulk of mine, 'Tails in the size! a tympany of greatness, Puffs up too monstrously my narrow chest.
▪ VI. tail, v.3
[Local variant of till v.]
trans. To set (a trap or snare); to bait (a trap).
1770G. Cartwright Jrnl. 27 Aug. (1792) I. 30, I tailed a couple of traps for otters, but did not find many rubbing places. 1862Telegram (Yeovil) 15 Feb., The defendant..proceeded some distance lower, and tailed another trap. 1899C. K. Paul Memories 250 To tail a trap, to set or bait it. 1901Blackw. Mag. Nov. 691/1 There are the traps to tail.
▪ VII. tail, tailage
obs. ff. tale, tallage n.1 |