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bob-tail
[f. bob n.1 + tail.]
A. Properly two words |ˈbɒb ˈteɪl|: The tail (of a horse) cut short.
[Must be earlier than 1577: when the vb. occurs.]1667Lond. Gaz. No. 211/4 A fine light Bay Stone-horse..with his Mayne shorn, and a bob tail. 1720Ibid. No. 5818/4 A brown Nag..with a Bob Tail.
B. attrib. |ˈbɒbteɪl|. Having a bob tail. bobtail car U.S. (see quot. 1888); bobtail discharge U.S. (see quot.); bobtail plough (see quot. 1743).
1605Shakes. Lear iii. vi. 73 Hound or Spaniell, Brache, or Lym: Or Bobtaile tight [tike] or Troudle [Qq. trundle] taile. 1829Marryat F. Mildmay xxiii, The bob-tail Cur. 1848Lowell Biglow P. i, Trainin' round in bobtail coats.
1875Chicago Tribune 8 Sept. 8/2 The bobtail cars ought to be taken off the streets right away, or conductors put on them. 1883Philadelph. Even. Star 13 Feb. 3/4 Bob-tail Courtesies..The old familiar bob-tail cars. 1888Farmer Americanisms, Bobtail car, the popular name for a small tram-car horsed by a single animal, and on which the only official is a driver, whose office it is to collect fares and generally perform the duties of conductor in addition to his own.
1886Outing (U.S.) Dec. 227/2 Upon the expiration of his first enlistment, he was given what is called a bobtail discharge, a discharge without character.
1733Ellis Chiltern & Vale Farm. xxxviii. 319 Either the Swing, Bobtail, or Foot Plough. 1743― Mod. Husb. May i. 6 The Creeper or Bobtail Plough, is a two-Wheel Plough, differing but very little from the Fallow Wheel Plough.
C. n. |ˈbɒbteɪl|.
1. a. A horse or dog with its tail cut short.
1676Lond. Gaz. No. 1115/4 A white Mare, and a black Nag..both Bob-tails. a1843Southey Ep. A. Cunningham Wks. III. 309 Mongrel and cur and bob-tail, let them yelp.
†b. A kind of arrow: see quot.
1544R. Ascham Toxoph. (Arb.) 126 Those that be lytle brested and big toward the hede called by theyr lykenesse taper fashion..and of some merrye fellowes bobtayles.
c. = bobtail discharge. U.S.
1915Recruiters' Bulletin (U.S.) June 8/1 (title) Bobtails. 1926R. A. Bennet Boss of Diamond A viii. 72 My discharge is in that trunk of mine. I'll show you it's no bobtail! 1937Amer. Speech XII. 75/1 Bobtail, (yellow-colored) dishonorable discharge.
†2. transf. A contemptible fellow, a cur. Obs.
1619Fletcher M. Thomas ii. ii. 390 I'le not be bob'd i' th' nose with every bobtail.
†3. (See quot.) Obs.
1583Higins Junius' Nomenclator 533 (D.) Cousins by mariage, or kinred (as they commonly terme it) by bobtaile.
4. collectively. [Perh. referring to 2 and 3.] tag-rag and bob-tail, or tag, rag, and bob-tail: the common herd, the rabble. Also pl. See tag.
1659–60Pepys Diary 6 Mar., The dining-room..was full of tag, rag, and bobtail, dancing, singing, and drinking. 1785Wolcott (P. Pindar) Ode to R. A's ii. Wks. 1812 I. 80 Tagrags and Bobtails of the sacred Brush. 1800Colquhoun Comm. Thames ii. 75 That lowest class of the community who are vulgarly denominated the Tag-Rag and Bobtail. c1817Hogg Tales & Sk. V. 255 The tag-rag and bob-tail part of the citizens of Edinburgh. 1820Byron Blues ii. 23 The rag, tag, and bobtail of those they call ‘Blues’. 1840Dickens Barn. Rudge xxxv, ‘We don't take in no tagrag and bobtail at our house.’ 1926J. Black You can't Win xiii. 180 She poured liquor into the bums, beggars, ragtags and bobtails that hung around the saloons.
5. In full bobtail flush, bob-tail straight. A four-card flush or straight in the game of poker. U.S.
1875Cincinnati Enquirer 2 July 2/3 The gentlemen..can not ‘bluff’ to any success on their ‘bob-tail flush’. 1887Courier Jrnl. 20 Jan. 4/1 The Confederates would..bet away the Washington monument on a ‘bob-tail flush’. 1901R. F. Foster Poker 26 The value of the ‘bobtail’, as a four-card flush is called, is nothing unless it can be improved in the draw. |