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fishtail

American  
[fish-teyl] / ˈfɪʃˌteɪl /

verb (used without object)

  1. to swerve or skid from side to side, as the rear end of a car.

  2. to slow an airplane by causing its tail to move rapidly from side to side.

noun

  1. such a maneuver.

  2. a gas burner having two jets crossing each other so as to produce a flame resembling a fish's tail.

  3. 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.

  4. Jewelry. a setting consisting of four prominent triangular corner prongs to hold the stone.

fishtail British  
/ ˈfɪʃˌteɪl /

noun

  1. an aeroplane manoeuvre in which the tail is moved from side to side to reduce speed

  2. a nozzle having a long narrow slot at the top, placed over a Bunsen burner to produce a thin fanlike flame

"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

verb

  1. to slow an aeroplane by moving the tail from side to side

  2. to drive with the rear of the vehicle moving from side to side in an uncontrolled fashion

"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

Etymology

Origin of fishtail

1400–50; late Middle English. See fish, tail 1

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.