pigtail
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English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
pigtail (plural pigtails)
- Tobacco twisted into a string or roll. [from 17th c.]
- 1828, JT Smith, Nollekens and His Times, Century Hutchinson, published 1986, page 265:
- One person […] continued constantly to ply him with the very best pig-tail tobacco, which he had most carefully cut in very small pieces purposely for him.
- A braided plait of hair; now especially, either of two braids or "tails" on the side of the head. [from 18th c.]
- 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:
- Such a filthy spectacle as we presented I have never seen before or since, and it will perhaps give some idea of the almost superhuman dignity of Billali's appearance when I say that, coughing, half-drowned, and covered with mud and green slime as he was, with his beautiful beard coming to a dripping point, like a Chinaman's freshly-oiled pig-tail, he still looked venerable and imposing.
- 2000, Bill Oddie, Gripping Yarns, page 12:
- [I]t was something that every schoolboy of my generation almost `had' to do, as obligatory a proof of impending manliness as scrumping apples or pulling girls' pigtails.
- (informal) A person who wears a pigtail or queue.
- (electrical engineering) A short length of twisted electrical wire. [from 20th c.]
- Synonym: tail
- The flamingo flower (anthurium)
- The tail of a pig.
- (medicine) Twisted stent terminal; stent-end, usually but not necessarily a different fastened part.
Derived terms[edit]
Alternate forms[edit]
Translations[edit]
braided plait of hair
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either of two braids or ponytails
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twisted piece of tobacco
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cable
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flamingo flower — see flamingo flower
tail of a pig
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Further reading[edit]
- “pigtail”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.