tail

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See also täil

Contents

English [edit]

Two ring-tailed lemurs, each with a long tail.

Etymology [edit]

From Middle English tail, tayl, teil, from Old English tæġel, tæġl (“tail”), from Proto-Germanic *taglaz, *taglą (“hair, fiber; hair of a tail”), from Proto-Indo-European *doḱ- (“hair of the tail”), from Proto-Indo-European *deḱ- (“to tear, fray, shred”). Cognate with Scots tail (“tail”), Dutch teil (“tail, haulm, blade”), Low German tagel (“a twisted scourge, a whip of thongs and ropes, a rope”), German Zagel (“tail”), Danish dialectal tavl (“hair of the tail”), Swedish tagel (“hair of the tail, horsehair”), Norwegian tagl (“tail”), Icelandic tagl (“tail, horsetail, ponytail”), Gothic 𐍄𐌰𐌲𐌻 (tagl). In some senses, apparently by a generalization of the usual opposition between head and tail.

Pronunciation [edit]

Noun [edit]

tail (plural tails)

  1. (anatomy) The caudal appendage of an animal that is attached to its posterior and near the anus.
    Most primates have a tail, and even early humans did.
  2. The tail-end of an object, e.g. the rear of an aircraft's fuselage, containing the tailfin.
  3. An object or part thereof resembling a tail in shape, such as the thongs on a cat-o'-nine-tails or other multi-tail whip.
  4. The rear structure of an aircraft, the empennage
  5. Specifically, the visible stream of dust and gases blown from a comet by the solar wind.
  6. The latter part of a time period or event, or (collectively) persons or objects represented in this part.
  7. (statistics) The part of a distribution most distant from the mode; as, a long tail.
  8. One who surreptitiously follows another.
  9. (cricket) The last four or five batsmen in the batting order, usually specialist bowlers.
  10. (typography) The lower loop of the letters in the Roman alphabet, as in g, q or y.
  11. (chiefly in the plural) The side of a coin not bearing the head; normally the side on which the monetary value of the coin is indicated; the reverse.
  12. (mathematics) All the last terms of a sequence, from some term on.
    A sequence (a_n) is said to be frequently 0 if every tail of the sequence contains 0.
  13. (now colloquial, chiefly US) The buttocks or backside.
    • 1499, John Skelton, The Bowge of Courte:
      By Goddis sydes, syns I her thyder broughte, / She hath gote me more money with her tayle / Than hath some shyppe that into Bordews sayle.
    • 1603, John Florio, translating Michel de Montaigne, Essays, I.49:
      They were wont to wipe their tailes [transl. cul] (this vaine superstition of words must be left unto women) with a sponge, and that's the reason why Spongia in Latine is counted an obscene word [...].
  14. (slang) The male member of a person or animal.
    After the burly macho nudists' polar bear dip, their tails were spectacularly shrunk, so they looked like an immature kid's innocent tail
  15. (slang, uncountable) Sexual intercourse.
    I'm gonna get me some tail tonight.
  16. (kayaking) the stern; the back of the kayak.
  17. (law) limitation of inheritance to certain heirs.
    tail male limitation to male heirs
    in tail subject to such a limitation

Synonyms [edit]

Derived terms [edit]

Terms derived from tail

Translations [edit]

appendage of an animal
tail-end of a creature
rear of an aircraft
object resembling a tail in shape
comet tail
latter part of a time period
statistics: part of a distribution most distant from the mode
surreptitious follower
cricket term
typography: lower loop of letters
reverse side of a coin
math: last terms of a sequence, from some term on
slang for the phallus
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.
Translations to be checked

See also [edit]

Verb [edit]

tail (third-person singular simple present tails, present participle tailing, simple past and past participle tailed)

  1. (transitive) To surreptitiously follow and observe.
    Tail that car!
  2. (architecture) To hold by the end; said of a timber when it rests upon a wall or other support; with in or into
  3. (nautical) To swing with the stern in a certain direction; said of a vessel at anchor.
    This vessel tails downstream.

Translations [edit]

to tail

Adjective [edit]

tail

  1. (law) Limited.

Anagrams [edit]

Welsh [edit]

Noun [edit]

tail

  1. shit, dung

Derived terms [edit]

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