[syn: dock, tail, bob]
3. remove the stalk of fruits or berries;
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Tail \Tail\, a. (Law)
Limited; abridged; reduced; curtailed; as, estate tail.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Tail \Tail\, n. [AS. taegel, taegl; akin to G. zagel, Icel.
tagl, Sw. tagel, Goth. tagl hair. [root]59.]
1. (Zool.) The terminal, and usually flexible, posterior
appendage of an animal.
[1913 Webster]
Note: The tail of mammals and reptiles contains a series of
movable vertebrae, and is covered with flesh and hairs
or scales like those of other parts of the body. The
tail of existing birds consists of several more or less
consolidated vertebrae which supports a fanlike group
of quills to which the term tail is more particularly
applied. The tail of fishes consists of the tapering
hind portion of the body ending in a caudal fin. The
term tail is sometimes applied to the entire abdomen of
a crustacean or insect, and sometimes to the terminal
piece or pygidium alone.
[1913 Webster]
2. Any long, flexible terminal appendage; whatever resembles,
in shape or position, the tail of an animal, as a catkin.
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Doretus writes a great praise of the distilled
waters of those tails that hang on willow trees.
--Harvey.
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3. Hence, the back, last, lower, or inferior part of
anything, -- as opposed to the head, or the superior
part.
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The Lord will make thee the head, and not the tail.
--Deut.
xxviii. 13.
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4. A train or company of attendants; a retinue.
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"Ah," said he, "if you saw but the chief with his
tail on." --Sir W.
Scott.
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5. The side of a coin opposite to that which bears the head,
effigy, or date; the reverse; -- rarely used except in the
expression "heads or tails," employed when a coin is
thrown up for the purpose of deciding some point by its
fall.
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6. (Anat.) The distal tendon of a muscle.
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7. (Bot.) A downy or feathery appendage to certain achenes.
It is formed of the permanent elongated style.
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8. (Surg.)
(a) A portion of an incision, at its beginning or end,
which does not go through the whole thickness of the
skin, and is more painful than a complete incision; --
called also tailing.
(b) One of the strips at the end of a bandage formed by
splitting the bandage one or more times.
[1913 Webster]
9. (Naut.) A rope spliced to the strap of a block, by which
it may be lashed to anything.
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10. (Mus.) The part of a note which runs perpendicularly
upward or downward from the head; the stem. --Moore
(Encyc. of Music).
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11. pl. Same as Tailing, 4.
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12. (Arch.) The bottom or lower portion of a member or part,
as a slate or tile.
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13. pl. (Mining) See Tailing, n., 5.
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14. (Astronomy) the long visible stream of gases, ions, or
dust particles extending from the head of a comet in the
direction opposite to the sun.
[PJC]
15. pl. (Rope Making) In some forms of rope-laying machine,
pieces of rope attached to the iron bar passing through
the grooven wooden top containing the strands, for
wrapping around the rope to be laid.
[Webster 1913 Suppl.]
16. pl. A tailed coat; a tail coat. [Colloq. or Dial.]
[Webster 1913 Suppl.]
17. (Aeronautics) In airplanes, an airfoil or group of
airfoils used at the rear to confer stability.
[Webster 1913 Suppl.]
18. the buttocks. [slang or vulgar]
[PJC]
19. sexual intercourse, or a woman used for sexual
intercourse; as, to get some tail; to find a piece of
tail. See also tailing[3]. [slang and vulgar]
[PJC]
Tail beam. (Arch.) Same as Tailpiece.
Tail coverts (Zool.), the feathers which cover the bases of
the tail quills. They are sometimes much longer than the
quills, and form elegant plumes. Those above the quills
are called the upper tail coverts, and those below, the
under tail coverts.
Tail end, the latter end; the termination; as, the tail end
of a contest. [Colloq.]
Tail joist. (Arch.) Same as Tailpiece.
Tail of a comet (Astron.), a luminous train extending from
the nucleus or body, often to a great distance, and
usually in a direction opposite to the sun.
Tail of a gale (Naut.), the latter part of it, when the
wind has greatly abated. --Totten.
Tail of a lock (on a canal), the lower end, or entrance
into the lower pond.
Tail of the trenches (Fort.), the post where the besiegers
begin to break ground, and cover themselves from the fire
of the place, in advancing the lines of approach.
Tail spindle, the spindle of the tailstock of a turning
lathe; -- called also dead spindle.
To turn tail, to run away; to flee.
[1913 Webster]
Would she turn tail to the heron, and fly quite out
another way; but all was to return in a higher
pitch. --Sir P.
Sidney.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Tail \Tail\, n. [F. taille a cutting. See Entail, Tally.]
(Law)
Limitation; abridgment. --Burrill.
[1913 Webster]
Estate in tail, a limited, abridged, or reduced fee; an
estate limited to certain heirs, and from which the other
heirs are precluded; -- called also estate tail.
--Blackstone.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Tail \Tail\, v. i.
1. (Arch.) To hold by the end; -- said of a timber when it
rests upon a wall or other support; -- with in or into.
[1913 Webster]
2. (Naut.) To swing with the stern in a certain direction; --
said of a vessel at anchor; as, this vessel tails down
stream.
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Tail on. (Naut.) See Tally on, under Tally.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Tail \Tail\, v. t.
1. To follow or hang to, like a tail; to be attached closely
to, as that which can not be evaded. [Obs.]
[1913 Webster]
Nevertheless his bond of two thousand pounds,
wherewith he was tailed, continued uncanceled, and
was called on the next Parliament. --Fuller.
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2. To pull or draw by the tail. [R.] --Hudibras.
[1913 Webster]
To tail in or To tail on (Arch.), to fasten by one of the
ends into a wall or some other support; as, to tail in a
timber.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
tail
n 1: the posterior part of the body of a vertebrate especially
when elongated and extending beyond the trunk or main part
of the body
2: the time of the last part of something; "the fag end of this
crisis-ridden century"; "the tail of the storm" [syn: fag
end, tail, tail end]
3: any projection that resembles the tail of an animal [syn:
tail, tail end]
4: the fleshy part of the human body that you sit on; "he
deserves a good kick in the butt"; "are you going to sit on
your fanny and do nothing?" [syn: buttocks, nates,
arse, butt, backside, bum, buns, can,
fundament, hindquarters, hind end, keister,
posterior, prat, rear, rear end, rump, stern,
seat, tail, tail end, tooshie, tush, bottom,
behind, derriere, fanny, ass]
5: a spy employed to follow someone and report their movements
[syn: tail, shadow, shadower]
6: (usually plural) the reverse side of a coin that does not
bear the representation of a person's head [ant: head]
7: the rear part of an aircraft [syn: tail, tail assembly,
empennage]
8: the rear part of a ship [syn: stern, after part,
quarter, poop, tail]
v 1: go after with the intent to catch; "The policeman chased
the mugger down the alley"; "the dog chased the rabbit"
[syn: chase, chase after, trail, tail, tag, give
chase, dog, go after, track]
2: remove or shorten the tail of an animal [syn: dock, tail,
bob]
3: remove the stalk of fruits or berries
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
267 Moby Thesaurus words for "tail":
Thule, Ultima Thule, acknowledgments, adherent, affix, aft, after,
aftermost, afterpart, afterpiece, allonge, appendage, appendix,
arm, arse, ass, attendant, back, back door, back matter, back seat,
back side, backside, backward, bastard title, bedog, behind,
bibliography, bitter end, bottom, bottom dollar, bough, boundary,
braid, branch, breech, brush, buff, bum, bun, butt, butt end,
buttocks, can, catch line, catchword, cauda, caudal,
caudal appendage, caudate, caudated, caudation, caudiform,
cavaliere servente, chase, cheeks, chignon, coda, codicil, coil,
colophon, come after, come behind, commentary, conclusive,
contents, contents page, copyright page, courtier, croup, cue,
dangler, dedication, definitive, dependent, determinative,
disciple, dock, dog, enclitic, endleaf, endmost, endpaper,
endsheet, envoi, epilogue, errata, eventual, extreme, extremity,
eye, fag end, fan, fanny, fantail, farthest, farthest bound, final,
flag, flunky, flyleaf, folio, follow, follow a clue, follow up,
follower, following, fore edge, foreword, front matter, go after,
go behind, half-title page, hand, hanger-on, head, heel, henchman,
hind, hind end, hind part, hinder, hindermost, hindhand, hindhead,
hindmost, homme de cour, hound, hunt down, imp, imprint, index,
infix, inscription, interlineation, interpolation, introduction,
joint, jumping-off place, keister, knot, last, leaf, leg, limb,
limit, limiting, link, lobe, lobule, makeup, marginalia, member,
move behind, nib, nose, nose out, note, occiput, offshoot, organ,
page, parasite, partisan, pigtail, pinion, plait, point, polar,
pole, posterior, postern, postscript, prat, preface, prefix,
preliminaries, proclitic, public, pursue, pursuer, pursuivant,
queue, rabbit, ramification, rattail, rear, rear end, rearmost,
rearward, recto, retrograde, reverse, reverso, rider, rump,
run down, run to earth, runner, running title, rusty-dusty,
satellite, scholia, scion, sectary, shadow, signature, smell out,
sniff out, spray, sprig, spur, stalk, stern, stooge, string along,
stub, stump, subtitle, successor, suffix, supporter, switch, tab,
table of contents, tag, tag after, tag along, tag end, tagtail,
tail end, tailed, tailgate, taillike, tailpiece, tendril, terminal,
terminating, terminative, text, tip, title, title page, topknot,
trace, trace down, track, track down, trail, trail after, trailer,
train, trainbearer, tread close upon, trim size, tuchis, tush,
tushy, twig, twist, type page, ultimate, verso, votary, wake,
ward heeler, wing
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):
TAIL. An estate tail is an estate of inheritance, to a man or a woman and
his or her heirs of his or her body, or heirs of his body of a particular
description, or to several persons and the heirs of their bodies, or the
heirs generally or specially of the body or bodies of one person, or several
bodies. Prest. on Estates, 355; Cruise, tit. 2, c. 1, s. 12.
2. Estates tail, as qualified "in their limitation and extent, are of
several sorts. They have different denominations, according to the
circumstances under which, or the persons to whom they are limited. They are
usually divided into estates tail general or special.
3. But they may be more advantageously arranged under the following
classes.
4.-1. As to the extent of the degree to which the estates may descend,
they are, 1st, general; 2d, qualified.
5.-2. As to the sex of the person who may succeed, they are, 1st.
General, as extending to males or females of the body, without exception.
2d. Special, as admitting only one sex to the succession, and excluding the
other sex.
6.-3. As to the person by whom or by whose body those heirs are to be
begotten, they are either, 1st. General, as to all the heirs of the body of
a man or woman. 2d. Special, as to the heirs of the body of a man or woman
begotten by a particular person, or to the heirs of the two bodies of a man
and woman. On the several species of estates tail noticed under this
division, it may be observed, that the same estate may at the same time, be
general in one respect; as, for example, to all the heirs of the body in
whatever degree they are related; and may be, special in another respect, as
that these heirs shall be males, &c. Prest. on Estates, 383, 4.
7. The law relating to entails is diversified in the several states. In
Indiana and Louisiana they never existed they are unknown in Illinois and
Vermont. In Ohio, Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky, and New York, estates tail
are converted into estates in fee simple by statute; and they may be barred
by a simple conveyance in Pennsylvania. In Alabama, Missouri, Mississippi,
New Jersey, Connecticut and North Carolina, they have been modified, and in
Georgia, they have been abolished without reservation. Griff. Reg. h.t.
Vide, generally, 8 Vin. Ab. 227 to 272; 10 Id. 257 to 269; 20 Id. 163; Bac.
Ab. Estate in tail; 4 Com. Dig. 17; 4 Kent, Com. 12; Bouv. Inst. Index,
h.t.; and. 1 Bro. Civ. Law, 188, where an attempt is made to prove that an
estate resembling an estate tail was not unknown to the Romans.
The Devil's Dictionary (1881-1906):
TAIL, n. The part of an animal's spine that has transcended its
natural limitations to set up an independent existence in a world of
its own. Excepting in its foetal state, Man is without a tail, a
privation of which he attests an hereditary and uneasy consciousness
by the coat-skirt of the male and the train of the female, and by a
marked tendency to ornament that part of his attire where the tail
should be, and indubitably once was. This tendency is most observable
in the female of the species, in whom the ancestral sense is strong
and persistent. The tailed men described by Lord Monboddo are now
generally regarded as a product of an imagination unusually
susceptible to influences generated in the golden age of our pithecan
past.