α. late Middle English tryndel-tayle, 1500s–1600s trindle taile, 1600s trendle-tayle, 1600s trindle tale, 1700s–1800s trindle tail.
β. 1500s–1600s trundle-taile, 1600s trondle-taile, 1600s trundle-tayle, 1600s–1700s trundle-tail.
trundle-tailn.
/ˈtrʌndlˌteɪl/, U.S. /ˈtrənd(ə)lˌteɪl/ Obsolete or archaic.
1.
a. A dog with a curly tail; a low-bred dog, a cur. Also attributive.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > mammals > group Unguiculata or clawed mammal > family Canidae > dog > [noun] > inferior
cur?c1225
cur-dog?c1225
trundle-tail1486
sholt1587
cute1622
penny doga1682
mutt1900
tripe-hound1923
fleabag1932
1486 Bk. St. Albans sig. fiiijv Myddyng dogges. Tryndeltayles. and Prikherid curris.
1599 T. Nashe Lenten Stuffe 29 A trundle-taile tike or shaugh or two.
1602 2nd Pt. Returne fr. Parnassus ii. v. 872 All kinde of dogges..trindle tailes, prick-eard curres, small Ladies puppies.
1608 W. Shakespeare King Lear xiii. 64 Grim-hound or spaniel,..Bobtaile tike, or trundletaile . View more context for this quotation
a1641 J. Webster & T. Heywood Appius & Virginia (1654) iii. 30 Amongst Curs a trindle tale.
1820 W. Scott Monastery II. x. 295 The very brutes are degenerated..our hounds are turn-spits and trindle-tails.
b. Applied contemptuously to a person.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > goodness and badness > inferiority or baseness > inferior person > [noun] > held in contempt
thingOE
cat?c1225
geggea1300
fox-whelpc1320
creaturea1325
whelp1338
scoutc1380
turnbroach14..
foumart1508
shit1508
get?a1513
strummel?a1513
scofting?1518
pismirea1535
clinchpoop1555
rag1566
huddle and twang1578
whipster1590
slop1599
shullocka1603
tailor1607
turnspit1607
fitchewa1616
bulchin1617
trundle-taila1626
tick1631
louse1633
fart1669
insect1684
mully-grub-gurgeon1746
grub-worm1752
rass1790
foutre1794
blister1806
snot1809
skin1825
scurf1851
scut1873
Siwash1882
stiff1882
bleeder1887
blighter1896
sugar1916
vuilgoed1924
klunk1942
fart sack1943
fart-arse1946
jerkwad1980
a1626 W. Rowley New Wonder (1632) ii. i. 18 How now my fine Trundletayles; My wodden Cosmographers.
1631 B. Jonson Bartholmew Fayre ii. v. 26 in Wks. II Doe you sneere, you dogs-head, you Trendle tayle!
1706 Phillips's New World of Words (new ed.) Trundle-tail, a Wench that runs fisking up and down with a draggled Tail.
2. (as two words) A curly tail (of a dog).
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > mammals > group Unguiculata or clawed mammal > family Canidae > dog > [noun] > parts of > (parts of) tail
trundle-taila1640
whip tail1709
screw-tail1820
ringtail1871
worm1877
otter tail1932
a1640 F. Beaumont et al. Loves Cure iii. iii, in F. Beaumont & J. Fletcher Comedies & Trag. (1647) sig. Rrrrr4/2 Like a poore cur, clapping his trindle taile Betwixt his legs.
1651 J. Ogilby Fables of Æsop Paraphras'd (1665) 205 Rough with a trundle Tail, a Prick-ear'd Cur.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2021).
<
n.1486