Hypertext Webster Gateway: "tail"

From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)

Tail \Tail\, n.
1. 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.

2. pl. A tailed coat; a tail coat. [Colloq. or Dial.]

From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)

Tail \Tail\, n. (A["e]ronautics)
In flying machines, a plane or group of planes used at the
rear to confer stability.

From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)

Tail \Tail\, n. [AS. t[ae]gel, t[ae]gl; akin to G. zagel, Icel.
tagl, Sw. tagel, Goth. tagl hair. [root]59.]
1. (Zo["o]l.) The terminal, and usually flexible, posterior
appendage of an animal.

Note: The tail of mammals and reptiles contains a series of
movable vertebr[ae], 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 vertebr[ae] 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.

2. Any long, flexible terminal appendage; whatever resembles,
in shape or position, the tail of an animal, as a catkin.

Doretus writes a great praise of the distilled
waters of those tails that hang on willow trees.
--Harvey.

3. Hence, the back, last, lower, or inferior part of
anything, -- as opposed to the {head}, or the superior
part.

The Lord will make thee the head, and not the tail.
--Deut.
xxviii. 13.

4. A train or company of attendants; a retinue.

``Ah,'' said he, ``if you saw but the chief with his
tail on.'' --Sir W.
Scott.

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.

6. (Anat.) The distal tendon of a muscle.

7. (Bot.) A downy or feathery appendage to certain achenes.
It is formed of the permanent elongated style.

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.

9. (Naut.) A rope spliced to the strap of a block, by which
it may be lashed to anything.

10. (Mus.) The part of a note which runs perpendicularly
upward or downward from the head; the stem. --Moore
(Encyc. of Music).

11. pl. Same as {Tailing}, 4.

12. (Arch.) The bottom or lower portion of a member or part,
as a slate or tile.

13. pl. (Mining) See {Tailing}, n., 5.

{Tail beam}. (Arch.) Same as {Tailpiece}.

{Tail coverts} (Zo["o]l.), 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.

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.

From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)

Tail \Tail\, n. [F. taille a cutting. See {Entail}, {Tally}.]
(Law)
Limitation; abridgment. --Burrill.

{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.

From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)

Tail \Tail\, a. (Law)
Limited; abridged; reduced; curtailed; as, estate tail.

From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)

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.]

Nevertheless his bond of two thousand pounds,
wherewith he was tailed, continued uncanceled, and
was called on the next Parliament. --Fuller.

2. To pull or draw by the tail. [R.] --Hudibras.

{To tail in} or {on} (Arch.), to fasten by one of the ends
into a wall or some other support; as, to tail in a
timber.

From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)

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.

2. (Naut.) To swing with the stern in a certain direction; --
said of a vessel at anchor; as, this vessel tails down
stream.

{Tail on}. (Naut.) See {Tally on}, under {Tally}.

From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)

tail
adj : (aeronautical) pertaining to the tail section of a plane
[syn: {tail(a)}]
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 end}]
3: any projection that resembles the tail of an animal [syn: {tail
end}]
4: the fleshy part of the human body that you sit on [syn: {buttocks},
{nates}, {arse}, {butt}, {backside}, {bum}, {buns}, {can},
{fundament}, {hindquarters}, {hind end}, {keister}, {posterior},
{prat}, {rear}, {rear end}, {rump}, {stern}, {seat}, {tail
end}, {tooshie}, {tush}, {bottom}, {behind}, {derriere}, {fanny},
{ass}]
5: a spy employed to follow someone and report their movements
[syn: {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 assembly}, {empennage}]
8: the rear part of a ship [syn: {stern}, {after part}, {quarter},
{poop}]
v 1: go after with the intent to catch [syn: {chase}, {chase
after}, {trail}, {tag}, {dog}, {go after}, {track}]
2: remove or shorten the tail of an animal [syn: {dock}, {bob}]
3: remove the stalk of fruits or berries


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