rat's tailn.

Brit.

/ˈrats teɪl/, U.S.

/ˈræts ˌteɪl/

Inflections: Plural rat's tails, rats' tails.

Forms: 1500s– rats tail, 1600s rats tayl, 1700s– rat's tail.

Origin: Formed within English, by compounding. Etymons: rat n.¹, tail n.¹

Etymology: < the genitive of rat n.¹ + tail n.¹ Compare later rat-tail n. Compare French queue-de-rat (of a horse) having a tail resembling that of a rat (1680), fine round file with a tapering end (1752), thinning or tapering end of a rope (1832).

†1. In plural. Linear fissures, scabby lesions, or growths on the pasterns of a horse (probably the lesions of mud fever). Cf. rat-tail n. 1. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

the world > health and disease > ill health > animal disease or disorder > disorders of horses > [noun] > disorders of legs > skin disorders

mallender1440

millets?1523

sallender?1523

rat's tails1566

arrest1639

rat-tails1696

1566 T. Blundeville Order curing Horses Dis. cxxxix. f. 97, in Fower Offices Horsemanshippe Of the Cratches or Rattes tayles called of the Italians Crepaccie...This is a kinde of long scabby riftes growing right vp and downe in the hinder parte from the fewterlocke vp to the Curbe.

1639 T. de Gray Compl. Horseman ii. xviii. 314 They be all..one and the same disease, as Mules, Kibes, Rats tayles, Crepanches.

1687 London Gaz. No. 2263/4 A brown Bay cropt Mare,..with two Rats Tails on each Leg behind.

c1720 W. Gibson Farriers New Guide ii. lxxxv. 288 Of Warts, Scratches, Rats-Tails, and other Excrescences on the Legs and Pasterns.

c1720 W. Gibson Farriers New Guide ii. lxxxv. 289 Rats-tails..generally creep from the Pastern to the middle of the Shank.

1891 H. Dalziel Dis. Horses 101 Rats' Tails, excrescences discharging ichorous matter, extending from the middle of the shank to the fetlock.

2. Any of various things resembling a rat's tail in shape.

a. Chiefly in plural: a lank lock of hair; (in singular) a thin plait or tail of hair.Earliest in rat's tail hair n. at Compounds. Later editions of quot. 1706 have rat-tail hair: see quot. 1709 at rat-tail n. 3a.

ΘΚΠ

the world > life > the body > hair > hair of head > lock or locks > [noun]

lockeOE

forelockc1000

hair-lockc1000

earlockOE

foretopc1290

tressc1290

lachterc1375

fuke1483

sidelock1530

proudfallc1540

widow's locka1543

folding1552

fore-bush1591

flake1592

witch knot1598

tuft1603

French lock1614

head-lock1642

witch-lock1682

rat's tail1706

side-curl1749

scalp knot1805

rat-tail1823

straggler1825

scalping-tuft1826

scalp-lock1827

aggravator1835

soap-lock1840

payess1845

stringleta1852

list1859

tresslet1882

drake's tail1938

the world > life > the body > hair > types of hair > [noun] > straight

gallows-locks1809

rat's tail1899

1706 E. Ward Hudibras Redivivus I. v. 13 Their sweaty Rats-tail Hair hung down To th' Shoulders from each addled Crown.

1753 T. Smollett Ferdinand Count Fathom I. xxviii. 203 You come over like a walking atomy, with a rat's tail at your wig, and a tinsy jacket.

1810 J. Lambert Trav. Lower Canada & U.S. I. ix. 162 The dress of the Habitant is simple, and homely;..His hair is tied in a thick long queue behind, with an eelskin; and on each side of his face a few strait locks hang down like, what are vulgarly called, ‘rats' tails’.

1899 W. Besant Orange Girl ii. v. 174 Their hair hung about their shoulders loose and undressed: it was not unbecoming in the young, but in the older women it became what is called rats' tails.

1931 E. Bliss Saraband i. 9 She stood before the wardrobe mirror to brush back her hair. Ratstails her mother called it.

1987 I. Rankin Knots & Crosses Prol. 2 Her dark hair fell in rats-tails down her forehead.

1994 Plain Dealer (Cleveland, Ohio) (Nexis) 29 Sept. 4 b A thin rat's tail of hair dangling down his neck and dressed in a denim jacket and black sneakers.

b. Short for rat's tail file n. at Compounds.

ΘΚΠ

society > occupation and work > equipment > shaping tools or equipment > file > [noun] > fine

smooth-file1678

rat-tail file1744

rat's tail file1777

rat-tail1820

rat-tail rasp1827

rat's taila1830

Swiss file1960

dead-file-

a1830 Encycl. Metrop. (1845) IV. 600/1 Different sorts [of files] are required, especially the three-cornered file... Also the kind called Rat's-tail, as with these perforations are readily made in corks.

1867 W. H. Smyth & E. Belcher Sailor's Word-bk. (at cited word) Rat's-tail. The round tapered file for enlarging holes in metal.

1875 T. Seaton Man. Fret Cutting vi. 67 Put them together, mark on one the shape of the required moulding, and file it out with the rat's tail.

1911 Internat. Rev. Sci. Pract. of Agric. Nov.–Dec. 2512 The cork is bored with a round file (known as a rat's tail).

†c. In full rat's tail candle. A thin tallow candle, or the end of this. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

the world > matter > light > artificial light > an artificial light > candle > [noun] > of other shapes

serpent1802

rat's tail1834

1834 W. Beckford Italy (ed. 2) I. 213 [In Florence] the theatre..was all glitter and glare. No taste, no arrangement, paltry looking-glasses, and rat's-tail candles.

1869 R. D. Blackmore Lorna Doone I. i. 3 The end of his candle of tallow, or ‘rat's tail’, as we called it.

†d. = rat-tail n. 2b. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

the world > health and disease > ill health > animal disease or disorder > disorders of cattle > [noun] > other disorders of cattle

murrainc1450

gall1577

gargyse1577

sprenges1577

wisp1577

closh1587

milting1587

moltlong1587

hammer1600

mallet1600

scurvy1604

wither1648

speed1704

nostril dropping1708

bladdera1722

heartsick1725

throstling1726

striking1776

feather-cling1799

hollow-horn1805

weed1811

blood striking1815

the slows1822

toad-bit1825

coast-fever1840

horn-distemper1843

rat's tail1847

whethering1847

milk fever1860

milt-sickness1867

pearl tumour1872

actinomycosis1877

pearl disease1877

rat-tail1880

lumpy jaw1891

niatism1895

cripple1897

rumenitis1897

Rhodesian fever1903

reticulitis1905

barbone1907

contagious abortion1910

trichomoniasis1915

shipping fever1932

New Forest disease1954

bovine spongiform encephalopathy1987

BSE1987

mad cow disease1988

East Coast fever2009

1847 F. A. Günther New Man. Homœopathic Vet. Med. xii. 212 The disease called rat's tail is said to exist when the base of the tail is denuded of hair by reason of friction, the animal frequently rubbing his tail against the sides of the stall to lessen the irritation.

1874 Man. Homœopathic Vet. Pract. 547 According to Günther, ‘the disease called rat's tail is said to exist when..’.

e. Chiefly Nautical. The thinning or tapering end of a rope.

ΚΠ

1867 W. H. Smyth & E. Belcher Sailor's Word-bk. (at cited word) Rat's-tail, the tapering end of a rope.

1895 H. Caine She's all World to Me iv. 27 ‘Tail, on there!’ shouted Bill Kisseck from the lugger. ‘Show a leg there, if you don't want the rat's tail. D'ye hear?’

1953 W. A. MacEwen & A. H. Lewis Encycl. Naut. Knowl. 437 Rat's tail. Pointed or tapered end of a small- sized rope, as on a lacing or a lashing, to facilitate reeving in small grommets, holes, etc.

1961 F. H. Burgess Dict. Sailing 168 Rat's-tail... A tapering end of rope.

f. A tapering rib or tongue of metal used esp. to attach the handle of a spoon to the bowl; = rat-tail n. 3d.

ΘΚΠ

the world > food and drink > food > setting table > table utensils > [noun] > cutlery > spoon > parts of

stalka1423

slipc1530

shank1688

bit1703

heel1801

rat's tail1878

1878 W. J. Cripps Old Eng. Plate x. 229 Towards the end of the reign of George II... the tongue [of the spoon], which extended down the back of the bowl, giving it strength, and so well known by the name of ‘the rat's tail’, was shortened into a drop.

1890 Cent. Dict. (at word) Rat's-tail, a slender rib or tongue tapering to a point, used to reinforce or stiffen a bar, plate, or the like, as on the back of a silver spoon.

1907 O. M. Dalton Guide Mediaeval Room Brit. Museum 250 Down the back of the bowl [of the spoon] ran a raised tongue generally described as the ‘rat's tail’.

1999 Canberra Times (Nexis) 16 May a25 By the start of the 18th Century, the back of the spoon bowl was reinforced by a tapered ‘rat's tail’ where the stem joined it.

g. New Zealand. = rat-tail grass n. at rat-tail n. Compounds 2.

ΚΠ

1923 J. W. Calder Hilgendorf's Pasture Plants & Pastures of N.Z. (ed. 2) ii. 39 (heading) Ratstail (Sporobolus indicus).—A perennial, growing almost as a native from Marlborough northwards.

1928 N.Z. Jrnl. Agric. 37 229 Ratstail (Sporobolus indicus)..will grow and persist on soils poorer in quality and more difficult even than those where Danthonia pilosa thrives.

1950 N.Z. Jrnl. Agric. Sept. 219/3 In a way the rapid ingress of ratstail into pastures during the 1930's was a good thing.

1965 Oxf. N.Z. Encycl. 164/2 Grasses, Low Fertility... Sporobolus capense [sic]—Ratstail.

1999 Waikato Times (Hamilton, N.Z.) (Nexis) 15 June (Farming section) 28 Grasses such as paspalum, kikuyu, Indian doab, mercer and ratstail would become more prevalent in Waikato pasture.

Compounds

rat's tail cactus n. = rat-tail cactus n. at rat-tail n. Compounds 2.

ΘΚΠ

the world > plants > particular plants > cactus and allies > [noun] > other cacti

hedgehog thistle1597

Opuntia1601

mescal1709

Barbados gooseberry1756

night-flowering cereus1789

vygebosch1795

night-blooming cereus1799

rhipsalis1819

pigface1830

window plant1838

old man cactus1845

cholla1846

fish-hook cactus1846

spleenwort1846

epiphyllum1858

old man's head1858

rainbow cactus1860

green snake1864

torchwood1866

queen of the night1870

vingerpol1875

nipple cactus1876

niggerhead1877

rat's tail cactus1878

rat-tail cactus1878

Christmas cactus1880

barrel cactus1881

peyote1885

mistletoe cactus1889

schlumbergera1898

pincushion1940

opuntioid1944

1878 Bot. Gaz. 3 47 More wonderful..is the case of..Grafting accidentally produced..by Mrs. Dea. Kingsbury, potting two plants of the ‘Deer's Tongue’ and ‘Rat's tail’ Cactus, resulting in a profuse crop of the latter issuing from the..leaves of the former!

1958 S. H. Scott Observer's Bk. Cacti 61 Aporocactus flagelliformis. Usually referred to as the ‘rat's tail cactus’ because of its pendent method of growth.

1987 Reader's Digest Encycl. Garden Plants & Flowers (ed. 4) 44/3 A. flagelliformis (rat's tail cactus)... Magenta funnel-shaped flowers, about 3 in. long, are formed profusely along the stems.

† rat's tail crane n. Obsolete a crane that rotates on a vertical post.

ΚΠ

1730 Philos. Trans. 1729–30 (Royal Soc.) 36 196 This Crane is of the Sort which is commonly call'd a Rat's Tail Crane,..moving round a strong Post like a Wind-mill, so that it may turn quite round with all its Load.

1774 J. Carter Builder's Mag. 181 In the second, called the rats-tail crane, the whole Crane, with its load, turns upon its axis.

rat's tail fescue n. an annual grass, Vulpia myuros, bearing long-awned spikelets in a long, narrow, one-sided panicle, occurring on walls and in other dry bare places in Eurasia and northern Africa.

ΘΚΠ

the world > plants > particular plants > plants and herbs > a grass or grasses > [noun] > fescue grasses

fescue1762

float-fescue1762

sheep's fescue1762

reed fescue1830

bunch-grass1837

rat's tail fescue1858

capon's-tail grass-

1858 G. Bentham Handbk. Brit. Flora 602 Rat's-tail Fescue... A tufted annual, usually about a foot high.

1917 S. F. Armstrong Brit. Grasses vii. 100 Rat's-tail Fescue... An annual, occurring chiefly in waste places.

1999 BSBI News Jan. 71 Juncus tenuis (Slender Rush) and Vulpia myuros (Rat's-tail Fescue) were seen on waste ground in Launceston.

rat's tail file n. a fine round file with a tapering end = rat-tail file n. at rat-tail n. Compounds 2.

ΘΚΠ

society > occupation and work > equipment > shaping tools or equipment > file > [noun] > fine

smooth-file1678

rat-tail file1744

rat's tail file1777

rat-tail1820

rat-tail rasp1827

rat's taila1830

Swiss file1960

dead-file-

1777 F. Bottarelli New Ital., Eng. & French Pocket-dict. III. A rat's tail file.

1870 Nature 25 Aug. 336/1 A rat's-tail file, for example, is a good nucleus.

1982 New Scientist 14 Jan. 100/1 He showed me a wicked-looking object that resembled a miniature rat's-tail file.

2006 R. Astley MGB Electr. Syst. xiii. 139/3 A fine flat rat's tail file or an emery board will be required to get them smooth and square.

rat's tail hair n. = rat-tail hair n. at rat-tail n. Compounds 1.

ΚΠ

1706rats-tail hair [see sense 2a].

1864 Punch 2 July 2/2 Goblin Child with the rat's-tail hair.

1959 Times 14 Oct. 4 Miss Noelle Middleton, hitherto disguised under rat's tail hair and shaved eyebrows, was suddenly transformed.

2007 Daily Mail (Nexis) 12 May 44 The raunchy singer..in her skimpy, fleshcoloured mini-dress and rats' tail hair.

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2008; most recently modified version published online March 2022).

单词	rats tail
释义	rat's tailn. Brit. /ˈrats teɪl/, U.S. /ˈræts ˌteɪl/ Inflections: Plural rat's tails, rats' tails. Forms: 1500s– rats tail, 1600s rats tayl, 1700s– rat's tail. Origin: Formed within English, by compounding. Etymons: rat n.¹, tail n.¹ Etymology: < the genitive of rat n.¹ + tail n.¹ Compare later rat-tail n. Compare French queue-de-rat (of a horse) having a tail resembling that of a rat (1680), fine round file with a tapering end (1752), thinning or tapering end of a rope (1832). †1. In plural. Linear fissures, scabby lesions, or growths on the pasterns of a horse (probably the lesions of mud fever). Cf. rat-tail n. 1. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ the world > health and disease > ill health > animal disease or disorder > disorders of horses > [noun] > disorders of legs > skin disorders mallender1440 millets?1523 sallender?1523 rat's tails1566 arrest1639 rat-tails1696 1566 T. Blundeville Order curing Horses Dis. cxxxix. f. 97, in Fower Offices Horsemanshippe Of the Cratches or Rattes tayles called of the Italians Crepaccie...This is a kinde of long scabby riftes growing right vp and downe in the hinder parte from the fewterlocke vp to the Curbe. 1639 T. de Gray Compl. Horseman ii. xviii. 314 They be all..one and the same disease, as Mules, Kibes, Rats tayles, Crepanches. 1687 London Gaz. No. 2263/4 A brown Bay cropt Mare,..with two Rats Tails on each Leg behind. c1720 W. Gibson Farriers New Guide ii. lxxxv. 288 Of Warts, Scratches, Rats-Tails, and other Excrescences on the Legs and Pasterns. c1720 W. Gibson Farriers New Guide ii. lxxxv. 289 Rats-tails..generally creep from the Pastern to the middle of the Shank. 1891 H. Dalziel Dis. Horses 101 Rats' Tails, excrescences discharging ichorous matter, extending from the middle of the shank to the fetlock. 2. Any of various things resembling a rat's tail in shape. a. Chiefly in plural: a lank lock of hair; (in singular) a thin plait or tail of hair.Earliest in rat's tail hair n. at Compounds. Later editions of quot. 1706 have rat-tail hair: see quot. 1709 at rat-tail n. 3a. ΘΚΠ the world > life > the body > hair > hair of head > lock or locks > [noun] lockeOE forelockc1000 hair-lockc1000 earlockOE foretopc1290 tressc1290 lachterc1375 fuke1483 sidelock1530 proudfallc1540 widow's locka1543 folding1552 fore-bush1591 flake1592 witch knot1598 tuft1603 French lock1614 head-lock1642 witch-lock1682 rat's tail1706 side-curl1749 scalp knot1805 rat-tail1823 straggler1825 scalping-tuft1826 scalp-lock1827 aggravator1835 soap-lock1840 payess1845 stringleta1852 list1859 tresslet1882 drake's tail1938 the world > life > the body > hair > types of hair > [noun] > straight gallows-locks1809 rat's tail1899 1706 E. Ward Hudibras Redivivus I. v. 13 Their sweaty Rats-tail Hair hung down To th' Shoulders from each addled Crown. 1753 T. Smollett Ferdinand Count Fathom I. xxviii. 203 You come over like a walking atomy, with a rat's tail at your wig, and a tinsy jacket. 1810 J. Lambert Trav. Lower Canada & U.S. I. ix. 162 The dress of the Habitant is simple, and homely;..His hair is tied in a thick long queue behind, with an eelskin; and on each side of his face a few strait locks hang down like, what are vulgarly called, ‘rats' tails’. 1899 W. Besant Orange Girl ii. v. 174 Their hair hung about their shoulders loose and undressed: it was not unbecoming in the young, but in the older women it became what is called rats' tails. 1931 E. Bliss Saraband i. 9 She stood before the wardrobe mirror to brush back her hair. Ratstails her mother called it. 1987 I. Rankin Knots & Crosses Prol. 2 Her dark hair fell in rats-tails down her forehead. 1994 Plain Dealer (Cleveland, Ohio) (Nexis) 29 Sept. 4 b A thin rat's tail of hair dangling down his neck and dressed in a denim jacket and black sneakers. b. Short for rat's tail file n. at Compounds. ΘΚΠ society > occupation and work > equipment > shaping tools or equipment > file > [noun] > fine smooth-file1678 rat-tail file1744 rat's tail file1777 rat-tail1820 rat-tail rasp1827 rat's taila1830 Swiss file1960 dead-file- a1830 Encycl. Metrop. (1845) IV. 600/1 Different sorts [of files] are required, especially the three-cornered file... Also the kind called Rat's-tail, as with these perforations are readily made in corks. 1867 W. H. Smyth & E. Belcher Sailor's Word-bk. (at cited word) Rat's-tail. The round tapered file for enlarging holes in metal. 1875 T. Seaton Man. Fret Cutting vi. 67 Put them together, mark on one the shape of the required moulding, and file it out with the rat's tail. 1911 Internat. Rev. Sci. Pract. of Agric. Nov.–Dec. 2512 The cork is bored with a round file (known as a rat's tail). †c. In full rat's tail candle. A thin tallow candle, or the end of this. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ the world > matter > light > artificial light > an artificial light > candle > [noun] > of other shapes serpent1802 rat's tail1834 1834 W. Beckford Italy (ed. 2) I. 213 [In Florence] the theatre..was all glitter and glare. No taste, no arrangement, paltry looking-glasses, and rat's-tail candles. 1869 R. D. Blackmore Lorna Doone I. i. 3 The end of his candle of tallow, or ‘rat's tail’, as we called it. †d. = rat-tail n. 2b. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ the world > health and disease > ill health > animal disease or disorder > disorders of cattle > [noun] > other disorders of cattle murrainc1450 gall1577 gargyse1577 sprenges1577 wisp1577 closh1587 milting1587 moltlong1587 hammer1600 mallet1600 scurvy1604 wither1648 speed1704 nostril dropping1708 bladdera1722 heartsick1725 throstling1726 striking1776 feather-cling1799 hollow-horn1805 weed1811 blood striking1815 the slows1822 toad-bit1825 coast-fever1840 horn-distemper1843 rat's tail1847 whethering1847 milk fever1860 milt-sickness1867 pearl tumour1872 actinomycosis1877 pearl disease1877 rat-tail1880 lumpy jaw1891 niatism1895 cripple1897 rumenitis1897 Rhodesian fever1903 reticulitis1905 barbone1907 contagious abortion1910 trichomoniasis1915 shipping fever1932 New Forest disease1954 bovine spongiform encephalopathy1987 BSE1987 mad cow disease1988 East Coast fever2009 1847 F. A. Günther New Man. Homœopathic Vet. Med. xii. 212 The disease called rat's tail is said to exist when the base of the tail is denuded of hair by reason of friction, the animal frequently rubbing his tail against the sides of the stall to lessen the irritation. 1874 Man. Homœopathic Vet. Pract. 547 According to Günther, ‘the disease called rat's tail is said to exist when..’. e. Chiefly Nautical. The thinning or tapering end of a rope. ΚΠ 1867 W. H. Smyth & E. Belcher Sailor's Word-bk. (at cited word) Rat's-tail, the tapering end of a rope. 1895 H. Caine She's all World to Me iv. 27 ‘Tail, on there!’ shouted Bill Kisseck from the lugger. ‘Show a leg there, if you don't want the rat's tail. D'ye hear?’ 1953 W. A. MacEwen & A. H. Lewis Encycl. Naut. Knowl. 437 Rat's tail. Pointed or tapered end of a small- sized rope, as on a lacing or a lashing, to facilitate reeving in small grommets, holes, etc. 1961 F. H. Burgess Dict. Sailing 168 Rat's-tail... A tapering end of rope. f. A tapering rib or tongue of metal used esp. to attach the handle of a spoon to the bowl; = rat-tail n. 3d. ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > food > setting table > table utensils > [noun] > cutlery > spoon > parts of stalka1423 slipc1530 shank1688 bit1703 heel1801 rat's tail1878 1878 W. J. Cripps Old Eng. Plate x. 229 Towards the end of the reign of George II... the tongue [of the spoon], which extended down the back of the bowl, giving it strength, and so well known by the name of ‘the rat's tail’, was shortened into a drop. 1890 Cent. Dict. (at word) Rat's-tail, a slender rib or tongue tapering to a point, used to reinforce or stiffen a bar, plate, or the like, as on the back of a silver spoon. 1907 O. M. Dalton Guide Mediaeval Room Brit. Museum 250 Down the back of the bowl [of the spoon] ran a raised tongue generally described as the ‘rat's tail’. 1999 Canberra Times (Nexis) 16 May a25 By the start of the 18th Century, the back of the spoon bowl was reinforced by a tapered ‘rat's tail’ where the stem joined it. g. New Zealand. = rat-tail grass n. at rat-tail n. Compounds 2. ΚΠ 1923 J. W. Calder Hilgendorf's Pasture Plants & Pastures of N.Z. (ed. 2) ii. 39 (heading) Ratstail (Sporobolus indicus).—A perennial, growing almost as a native from Marlborough northwards. 1928 N.Z. Jrnl. Agric. 37 229 Ratstail (Sporobolus indicus)..will grow and persist on soils poorer in quality and more difficult even than those where Danthonia pilosa thrives. 1950 N.Z. Jrnl. Agric. Sept. 219/3 In a way the rapid ingress of ratstail into pastures during the 1930's was a good thing. 1965 Oxf. N.Z. Encycl. 164/2 Grasses, Low Fertility... Sporobolus capense [sic]—Ratstail. 1999 Waikato Times (Hamilton, N.Z.) (Nexis) 15 June (Farming section) 28 Grasses such as paspalum, kikuyu, Indian doab, mercer and ratstail would become more prevalent in Waikato pasture. Compounds rat's tail cactus n. = rat-tail cactus n. at rat-tail n. Compounds 2. ΘΚΠ the world > plants > particular plants > cactus and allies > [noun] > other cacti hedgehog thistle1597 Opuntia1601 mescal1709 Barbados gooseberry1756 night-flowering cereus1789 vygebosch1795 night-blooming cereus1799 rhipsalis1819 pigface1830 window plant1838 old man cactus1845 cholla1846 fish-hook cactus1846 spleenwort1846 epiphyllum1858 old man's head1858 rainbow cactus1860 green snake1864 torchwood1866 queen of the night1870 vingerpol1875 nipple cactus1876 niggerhead1877 rat's tail cactus1878 rat-tail cactus1878 Christmas cactus1880 barrel cactus1881 peyote1885 mistletoe cactus1889 schlumbergera1898 pincushion1940 opuntioid1944 1878 Bot. Gaz. 3 47 More wonderful..is the case of..Grafting accidentally produced..by Mrs. Dea. Kingsbury, potting two plants of the ‘Deer's Tongue’ and ‘Rat's tail’ Cactus, resulting in a profuse crop of the latter issuing from the..leaves of the former! 1958 S. H. Scott Observer's Bk. Cacti 61 Aporocactus flagelliformis. Usually referred to as the ‘rat's tail cactus’ because of its pendent method of growth. 1987 Reader's Digest Encycl. Garden Plants & Flowers (ed. 4) 44/3 A. flagelliformis (rat's tail cactus)... Magenta funnel-shaped flowers, about 3 in. long, are formed profusely along the stems. † rat's tail crane n. Obsolete a crane that rotates on a vertical post. ΚΠ 1730 Philos. Trans. 1729–30 (Royal Soc.) 36 196 This Crane is of the Sort which is commonly call'd a Rat's Tail Crane,..moving round a strong Post like a Wind-mill, so that it may turn quite round with all its Load. 1774 J. Carter Builder's Mag. 181 In the second, called the rats-tail crane, the whole Crane, with its load, turns upon its axis. rat's tail fescue n. an annual grass, Vulpia myuros, bearing long-awned spikelets in a long, narrow, one-sided panicle, occurring on walls and in other dry bare places in Eurasia and northern Africa. ΘΚΠ the world > plants > particular plants > plants and herbs > a grass or grasses > [noun] > fescue grasses fescue1762 float-fescue1762 sheep's fescue1762 reed fescue1830 bunch-grass1837 rat's tail fescue1858 capon's-tail grass- 1858 G. Bentham Handbk. Brit. Flora 602 Rat's-tail Fescue... A tufted annual, usually about a foot high. 1917 S. F. Armstrong Brit. Grasses vii. 100 Rat's-tail Fescue... An annual, occurring chiefly in waste places. 1999 BSBI News Jan. 71 Juncus tenuis (Slender Rush) and Vulpia myuros (Rat's-tail Fescue) were seen on waste ground in Launceston. rat's tail file n. a fine round file with a tapering end = rat-tail file n. at rat-tail n. Compounds 2. ΘΚΠ society > occupation and work > equipment > shaping tools or equipment > file > [noun] > fine smooth-file1678 rat-tail file1744 rat's tail file1777 rat-tail1820 rat-tail rasp1827 rat's taila1830 Swiss file1960 dead-file- 1777 F. Bottarelli New Ital., Eng. & French Pocket-dict. III. A rat's tail file. 1870 Nature 25 Aug. 336/1 A rat's-tail file, for example, is a good nucleus. 1982 New Scientist 14 Jan. 100/1 He showed me a wicked-looking object that resembled a miniature rat's-tail file. 2006 R. Astley MGB Electr. Syst. xiii. 139/3 A fine flat rat's tail file or an emery board will be required to get them smooth and square. rat's tail hair n. = rat-tail hair n. at rat-tail n. Compounds 1. ΚΠ 1706rats-tail hair [see sense 2a]. 1864 Punch 2 July 2/2 Goblin Child with the rat's-tail hair. 1959 Times 14 Oct. 4 Miss Noelle Middleton, hitherto disguised under rat's tail hair and shaved eyebrows, was suddenly transformed. 2007 Daily Mail (Nexis) 12 May 44 The raunchy singer..in her skimpy, fleshcoloured mini-dress and rats' tail hair. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2008; most recently modified version published online March 2022). < n.1566
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