empennagen.
/ɪmˈpɛnɪdʒ/, /ɛmˈpɛnɪdʒ/, U.S. /ˌɑmpəˈnɑʒ/, /ˌɛmpəˈnɑ(d)ʒ/, /ᵻmˈpɛnɪdʒ/ 1. The tail assembly of an aircraft; an arrangement of stabilizing surfaces typically comprising a (horizontal) tailplane and a (vertical) fin; a tailplane.
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society > travel > air or space travel > a means of conveyance through the air > aeroplane > parts of aircraft > [noun] > stabilizer > of tail > arrangement of
empennage1908
tail unit1926
tail assembly1968
1908 Aëronautics Mar. p. xxi/2 Dirigible balloon constructed for the German Government by Major Gross in 1907... Steering: Horizontal plane tail (‘empennage’), 2 wings for regulating altitude, elongated rudder, and flat keel underneath envelope.
1909 A. Berget Conquest of Air ii. i. 132 The empennage will comprise a surface placed well to the rear of the sustaining surface..to which it will be joined.
1945 Flying Mag. Jan. 51/2 Acrylic plastics, used for cockpit covers, blisters, turrets, observation hatches, tail empennages and windows, are..less than half as heavy as plate glass.
1990 J. Nance Final Approach vi. 99 All I can figure now is to go through the main section wreckage on the theory that it was flung into there before the empennage broke away.
2001 Today's Pilot Feb. 99/2 Although Beech considered a butterfly tail for the Model 45, eventually a conventional empennage was fitted.
2. figurative and in extended use.
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1927 E. W. Springs Nocturne Militaire viii. 258 They vibrated like a hula dancer's empennage.
1984 J. Varley Demon (1987) 328 Females had green wing feathers and males had red. The caudal empennage of both sexes was black.
1995 R. L. Thompson Flying in Coffin Corner i. 4 When he stretched out on it, his ‘empennage’ came down to within six inches of my nose!
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2014; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1908