fishtail
to swerve or skid from side to side, as the rear end of a car.
to slow an airplane by causing its tail to move rapidly from side to side.
such a maneuver.
a gas burner having two jets crossing each other so as to produce a flame resembling a fish's tail.
a device having a long, narrow slot at the top, placed over a gas jet, as of a Bunsen burner, to give a thin, fanlike flame.
Jewelry. a setting consisting of four prominent triangular corner prongs to hold the stone.
Origin of fishtail
1Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use fishtail in a sentence
The gas-jet is on at the full—or rather the tap is, for the fish-tail burner doesn't realise its ideal.
Somehow Good | William de MorganBut he shifted the fish-tail rudder, and the Comet obediently swerved over closer to the big, humming June bug.
The Motor Boys in the Clouds | Clarence YoungIt is caused by an uprush of fairy force from the ground—and spreading fish-tail fashion higher into the air—it is many-hued.
The Coming of the Fairies | Arthur Conan DoyleThe other, shaped like a fish-tail, sent it to right or left.
The Motor Boys in the Clouds | Clarence YoungNo accumulation of filth in every hue—of shell, and gill, and fish-tail—can disgust me.
British Dictionary definitions for fishtail (1 of 2)
/ (ˈfɪʃˌteɪl) /
an aeroplane manoeuvre in which the tail is moved from side to side to reduce speed
a nozzle having a long narrow slot at the top, placed over a Bunsen burner to produce a thin fanlike flame
to slow an aeroplane by moving the tail from side to side
to drive with the rear of the vehicle moving from side to side in an uncontrolled fashion
British Dictionary definitions for fish tail (2 of 2)
a step in ballroom dancing in which the feet are quickly crossed
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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