Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of 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.]
\Tail\, n. (A["e]ronautics) In flying machines, a plane or group of planes used at the rear to confer stability.
\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.
\Tail\, a. (Law) Limited; abridged; reduced; curtailed; as, estate 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.
\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.
\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}.