coattail

American  

[koht-teyl] / ˈkoʊtˌteɪl /

noun

1. the back of the skirt on a man's coat or jacket.

2. one of the two back parts of the skirt of a coat, especially one of the tails on a tailcoat.

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adjective

1. gained by association with another, especially with a successful or celebrated person.

   coattail benefits.

idioms

1. on the coattails of, immediately after or as a result of.

   His decline in popularity followed on the coattails of the scandal.

2. on someone's coattails, aided by association with another person.

   The senator rode into office on the president's coattails.

Etymology

Origin of coattail

First recorded in 1590–1600; coat + tail ¹

Example Sentences

It is why Amorim felt United were in danger of blowing a significant chance to climb into the top six and on the coattails of the sides in contention for Champions League qualification.

From BBC

The outsize stake is unusual for a buyout, where sovereign-wealth funds would typically ride on the coattails of traditional private-equity firms as minority investors.

From The Wall Street Journal

Court documents showed that Mondelēz International said Aldi uses similar packaging likely to "deceive" consumers and "ride the coattails" of the company's "attraction, fame and prestige".

From BBC

By 2016, these hotel gyms had now become boutiques to Kohli's fitness regime, and the rest of the team followed on his coattails.

From BBC

“The other thing is the resiliency and the availability of the infrastructure. Cloud providers have designed and architected their infrastructure really well. We can ride on the coattails of their innovation.”

From BBC