# tail

Pronunciation: say "TAYL" /teɪl/

## Noun

1. The part at the rear of an animal's body that extends beyond the trunk, such as a flexible extension of the spine in mammals or the rear feathers of a bird.
   - Simple: The part that sticks out from the back end of an animal's or bird's body.
   - _The lizard dropped its tail to escape the predator's grip._
   - _Beavers slap their tails on the water to warn the colony of danger._
2. The back, last, or lower part of something, such as the rear of a boat, the end of a line of people, or the final stage of an event or period.
   - Simple: The back or end part of something, or the last part of a time, event, or line of people.
   - _We arrived late and saw only the tail of the long parade._
   - _The struggling teams languished at the tail of the league table._
3. The rear assembly of an aircraft, including its stabilizing fins and control surfaces; the empennage.
   - Simple: The back part of an airplane, with the fins that help steer it.
   - _Engineers redesigned the tail to reduce drag at cruising speed._
   - _Investigators recovered the tail almost intact from the crash site._
4. An object or part of an object shaped like a tail, such as one of the strands of a cat-o'-nine-tails.
   - Simple: A part of something that is long and thin like an animal's tail.
   - _A long cloth tail trailed from the back of the dragon costume._
   - _The old whip had nine leather tails tied to a short wooden handle._
5. The reverse side of a coin, opposite the head and usually showing its monetary value.
   - Simple: The side of a coin that does not show a face or head.
   - _Grandpa always picks tails when we flip a coin to decide who goes first._
   - _The coin spun on the table for a moment before falling tails up._
8. A person who secretly follows and observes another.
   - Simple: A person who secretly follows someone to watch them.
   - _The agent spotted a tail two cars behind on the highway._
   - _He shook off the tail before reaching the safe house._
7. The part of a statistical distribution farthest from its peak, where values become increasingly rare.
   - Simple: The far ends of a graph, where only a few values appear.
   - _Analysts focused on the tail of the distribution, where the largest losses occur._
   - _A distribution with heavy tails produces far more outliers than a normal one._
9. A luminous stream of dust or ionized gas extending from a comet, pushed away from the Sun by sunlight's radiation pressure or the solar wind.
   - Simple: The long, bright stream of dust and gas that trails behind a comet.
   - _Astronomers photographed the comet's tail as it swung close to the Sun._
   - _Some comets develop two distinct tails, one of dust and one of ionized gas._
10. An informal word for the buttocks or rear of a person. *(colloquial, US)*
   - Simple: A casual word for a person's bottom or behind.
   - _She worked her tail off to finish the report before the deadline._
   - _He fell right on his tail when the old chair gave way._
11. Usually in the plural tails: a man's formal coat cut away at the front with two long tapering flaps at the back, or formal evening dress that includes one.
   - Simple: A man's formal coat with a long back split into two flaps, worn at very dressy events.
   - _For opening night, the conductor appeared in tails and a white bow tie._
   - _The conductor still favors tails for evening concerts._
12. A slang term for sexual intercourse. *(slang)*
   - Simple: A slang word for having sex.
   - _The young men spent their whole leave chasing tail in the port bars._
   - _He claimed he hadn't gotten any tail since the divorce._
13. The lower loop or stroke that descends below the baseline on letters such as g, q, and y.
   - Simple: The part of a letter like g, y, or q that hangs down below the line.
   - _The designer lengthened the tail of the q to give the typeface more character._
   - _On this font, the tails of g and y barely dip below the baseline._
14. The lower-order batters in a cricket side, usually the specialist bowlers who bat last.
   - Simple: The weaker batters at the end of a cricket team's batting order.
   - _England's tail wagged unexpectedly, adding eighty runs for the last three wickets._
   - _A fragile tail meant the bowlers had little margin for error._
15. All the terms of a sequence from some chosen term onward.
   - Simple: In math, all the terms of a list after a chosen point.
   - _Convergence depends only on the tail of the sequence, not its opening terms._
   - _He showed that the tail of the series shrinks faster than any geometric rate._
16. The straight stroke running up or down from the head of a written musical note; the stem.
   - Simple: In written music, the straight line going up or down from the round part of a note.
   - _The copyist drew the tail of each note going up from the right side of its head._
   - _When notes sit above the middle line, their tails usually point downward._
17. The bottom or lower portion of a building component such as a roof slate or tile.
   - Simple: The bottom edge of a roof slate or tile.
   - _Rain runs off the tail of each slate and onto the slates below._
   - _Cracks along the tails of the tiles let water seep into the battens._

## Verb

6. To follow someone or something closely, especially secretly in order to watch where they go and what they do.
   - Simple: To follow someone closely, often secretly, to watch where they go and what they do.
   - _She agreed to tail the suspect until he led them to the hidden cache._
   - _The private investigator tailed the wandering husband for a month._
18. To pull or drag something along by its tail.
   - Simple: To pull an animal or object along by its tail.
   - _Ranchers sometimes tail a downed steer to help it regain its feet._
   - _Wading into the river, she tailed the tired fish and lifted it onto the bank._

## Other meanings

- (noun) A slang term for the penis of a person or animal.
- (noun) The waste material left over after valuable ore has been separated out; a tailing.
- (noun) A short length of twisted electrical wire used to make a connection; a pigtail.
- (noun) A body of attendants or followers accompanying a person of rank; a retinue.
- (noun) The tendon at the distal end of a muscle, the end farthest from the body's center.
- (noun) The final fraction collected during a distillation run, usually carrying impurities and fusel oils.
- (noun) A rope spliced to the strap of a block, used to lash the block to anything.
- (noun) A thin, threadlike extension at the inner rear corner of the hind wing in some butterflies, such as hairstreaks.
- (noun) A feathery or downy plume on certain achenes, formed from the style, which stays on and grows longer after flowering.
- (noun) A shallow stretch at the start or end of a cut that does not pass through the full depth of the skin and hurts more than a clean incision.
- (noun) A strip formed when a bandage's end is cut lengthwise into two or more pieces.
- (verb) Of a beam or timber, to have one end resting on and held by a wall or similar support, used with in or into.
- (verb) Of an anchored ship, to swing so that its stern points in a particular direction.
- (adjective) Cut down or restricted in extent, especially of an estate.
- (noun) A restriction on an inherited estate so that it can pass only to particular heirs.

## Origin

From Middle English tail, from Old English tæġl ("tail"), from Proto-Germanic *taglą ("hair, fiber; hair of a tail") and possibly ultimately from a Proto-Indo-European root meaning "hair of the tail," itself from one meaning "to tear or shred." It is related to Dutch teil, German Zagel, Swedish tagel, and Gothic tagl ("hair").

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/tail (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).