coattail

English

Etymology

coat +‎ tail

Noun

coattail (plural coattails)

1. The flap at the back of a coat that hangs down, sometimes below the waist.
   • Template:RQ:WBsnt IvryGt

     At twilight in the summer […] the mice come out. They […] eat the luncheon crumbs. Mr. Checkly, for instance, always brought his dinner in a paper parcel in his coat-tail pocket, and ate it when so disposed, sprinkling crumbs lavishly […] on the floor.

2. (usually in the plural, figurative) Success of a figure, organization or movement that transfers to those who associate with it.
   • 2012, The Economist, Oct 6th 2012; The Senate: Not so flippable:

     Mr Obama’s coat-tails may help lift Wall-Street-basher Elizabeth Warren past pickup-driving Everyman and one-time nude pin-up Scott Brown in Massachusetts […].

Hypernyms

• tail

Related terms

• on the coattails of
• ride the coattails

Translations

flap at the back of a coat

• Danish: frakkeskøde n
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Irish: triopall casóige m

transferred success

• Danish: slipstrøm c
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Russian: пола́ (ru) f (polá), фа́лда (ru) f (fálda)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

Anagrams

• tailcoat