| 释义 |
tail-end|ˌteɪlˈɛnd|
[f. tail n.1 + end n.]
1. a. The hindmost or lowest end of anything; that part which is opposite the head: cf. tail n.1 4.
1747H. Glasse Art of Cookery ix. 92 Take a large Eel,..cut it into four Pieces, take the Tail-end, [etc.]. 1837M. Donovan Dom. Econ. II. 277 A tail-end of a rump of beef, weighing 123/4 lb., when boiled gave 13/4 lb. of bone. 1871Morris in Mackail Life (1899) I. 255 Two or three tail⁓ends of glaciers dribbled over them [cliffs]. 1880L. Wallace Ben Hur iv. vii, A dray with low wheels and broad axle, surmounted by a box open at the tail-end. 1917‘Contact’ Airman's Outings viii. 214 V., my pilot and flight-commander, was given to a quick dive at the enemy,..and another dash to close grips from an unexpected direction, while I guarded the tail-end.
†b. spec. The backside, rump: = tail n.1 5.
1377Langl. P. Pl. B. v. 395 Were I brouȝte abedde, but if my taille-ende it made, Sholde no ryngynge do me ryse, ar I were rype to dyne. 1401Pol. Poems (Rolls) II. 50 Quenching of torches in ȝou tayl-ende.
c. fig.; esp. the concluding part of an action, period of time, etc.: cf. tail n.1 4 b.
1845Darwin in Life & Lett. (1887) II. 31, I am sorry to say I have not even the tail-end of a fact in English Zoology to communicate. 1872Black Adv. Phaeton xxii, The tail⁓end of a shower caught us. 1887Spectator 17 Sept. 1240 At the tail-end of the Session.
d. Cricket. = tail n.1 8 a (b). Freq. attrib.
1888A. G. Steel in Steel & Lyttelton Cricket iii. 176 The tail end of a team are usually victims to a good straight fast bowler. 1904Westm. Gaz. 11 Jan. 2/1 Fielder bowled very well indeed at the tail-end men of the Victorian eleven. 1930Morning Post 16 July 11/5 He had batted on three different days, and had shown ability and courage. He can never in future be regarded as a tail-end batsman. 1955Times 13 July 3/2 With the first ball of his next Smales bowled Smith, who had..looked the one man likely to deprive Nottinghamshire of a win with tail-end wickets falling fast. 19760–10 Cricket Scene (Austral.) 15/1 He..then routed Victoria's tail-end to win another close encounter.
2. The end or tip of a tail. rare.
3. = tailing vbl. n.1 2 a.
1859Geo. Eliot A. Bede vi, Everybody 'ud be wanting bread made o' tail-ends.
4. tail-end Charlie, a tail-gunner; the last aircraft in a flying formation (Services' colloq.); also transf. and fig., one who comes last or behind, a tail-ender.
1941Illustr. London News CXCIX. 579 (caption) The ‘tail-end Charlie’ of a ‘Halifax’ gives the ‘thumbs up’ sign just before his machine takes off. 1942Sun (Baltimore) 8 Aug. 3/1 Lessig crossed the channel with the RAF, flying a Spitfire in the ‘tail end Charlie’ position—the last plane in a flight of four. 1956P. Scott Male Child i. ii. 40 My brother..was killed in the war... A tail-end Charlie. 1961Times 7 June 5/7 The Spaniard, Goyeneche was lanterne rouge, the cyclists' equivalent of tail-end-Charlie. 1976Daily Mail 4 Oct. 3/3 The average lifespan of a ‘Tail-end Charlie’ was reckoned as ten ‘ops.’
transf. and fig.1962A. Sampson Anat. of Britain xxxiv. 550 The essential services may, as in America, become regarded as the tail-end Charlies, the forgotten drudges under the pavements and pit-heads. 1969Daily National (Nairobi) 31 Oct. 35 (Advt.), Congratulations to Joginder Singh and Ken Ranyard on their magnificent drive in car No. 46, starting as ‘tail end Charlie’. But finishing with the major honours. 1973Listener 15 Nov. 661/3 On tours, when I used to go with my parents..a sort of tail-end Charlie. 1978A. Price '44 Vintage x. 131 The jeep behind them was closing up... The Sergeant was taking his tail⁓end Charlie role..seriously. 1980Outdoor Life (U.S.) (North-east ed.) Oct. 53/3, I found myself on a hillside where the birds were flushing below, but then there was one tail-end Charlie who went up the hill.
Hence tail-ˈender, one that is at the tail-end (now esp. in Sport).
1885Sydney Mail 28 Feb. 451/4 Garrett and Evans, the ‘tail-enders’, established themselves..firmly at the wickets. 1895Outing (U.S.) XXVI. 31/1 Six teal flew across the water, and I downed the tailender. 1908Daily Chron. 8 Jan. 5/7 The Australians..failed because they could not get our tail-enders out. 1915Lit. Digest 21 Aug. 360/3 The St. Louis Cardinals, whom the writer designates as ‘almost chronic tail-enders’, are, in regard to the amounts spent for new players, just about the same. 1955Times 23 June 17/1 It has certainly been focused so far on the leaders rather than the tail-enders in the various markets. One possible brake on the rise..is an increase in the corpus of securities. 1961Sunday Express 7 May 1/6 Both men were lapping the tailenders now. 1977World of Cricket Monthly June 24/2 Eric was also the better batsman, Alec being more of the hard-hitting tailender type. 1980A. Crawley Dial 200-200 ix. 98 ‘You might have been killed yourself.’ ‘Not much chance; the raid had already gone past us. It would have had to be a tail-ender, like the one that got the maid.’ |