tail¹ (tāl)

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[Middle English, from Old English tægel.]

noun 

1. The posterior part of an animal, especially when elongated and extending beyond the trunk or main part of the body.
2. The bottom, rear, or hindmost part: the tail of a shirt.
3. The rear end of a wagon or other vehicle.
4. 1. The rear portion of the fuselage of an aircraft.
   2. An assembly of stabilizing planes and control surfaces in this rear portion.
5. The vaned rear portion of a bomb or missile.
6. An appendage to the rear or bottom of a thing: the tail of a kite.
7. The long luminous stream of gas and dust forced from the head of a comet when it is close to the sun.
8. A braid of hair; a pigtail.
9. Something that follows or takes the last place: the tail of a journey.
10. A train of followers; a retinue.
11. The end of a line of persons or things.
12. The short closing line of certain stanzas of verse.
13. The refuse or dross remaining from processes such as distilling or milling.
14. Printing The bottom of a page; the bottom margin.
15. The side of a coin not having the principal design and the date. Often used in the plural with a singular verb.
16. Informal The trail of a person or an animal in flight.
17. Informal A person assigned or employed to follow and report on someone else's movements and actions: The police put a tail on the suspected drug dealer.
18. 1. A formal evening costume typically worn by men.
    2. A tailcoat.
19. 1. Slang The buttocks.
    2. Vulgar Slang A sexual partner, especially a woman.

adjective 

1. Of or relating to a tail or tails: tail feathers.
2. Situated in the tail, as of an airplane: a tail gunner.

verb: tailed, tail·ing, tails. 

transitive verb 

1. To provide with a tail: tail a kite.
2. To deprive of a tail; dock.
3. To serve as the tail of: The Santa Claus float tailed the parade.
4. To connect (often dissimilar or incongruous objects) by or as if by the tail or end: tail two ideas together.
5. Architecture To set one end of (a beam, board, or brick) into a wall.
6. Informal To follow and keep under surveillance.

intransitive verb 

1. To become lengthened or spaced when moving in a line: The patrol tailed out in pairs.
2. Architecture To be inserted at one end into a wall, as a floor timber or beam.
3. Informal To follow: tailed after the leader.
4. Nautical
   1. To go aground with the stern foremost.
   2. To lie or swing with the stern in a named direction, as when riding at anchor or on a mooring.
5. Sports To veer from a straight course in the direction of the dominant hand of the player propelling the ball: a pitch that tails away from the batter.

phrasal verbs

tail down

To ease a heavy load down a steep slope.

tail off

To diminish gradually; dwindle or subside: The fireworks tailed off into darkness.

derivatives

taiĺless

adjective

tail² (tāl)

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Law [Middle English taille, from Old French, division, from taillier, to cut; see tailor.]

noun 

Limitation of the inheritance of an estate to a particular party.

adjective 

Being in tail: a tail estate.