shirttail

American  

[shurt-teyl] / ˈʃɜrtˌteɪl /

noun

1. the part of a shirt below the waistline.

2. Journalism. a brief item added at the end of a related newspaper story.

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adjective

1. quite young and immature in behavior.

2. Chiefly Midland and Southern U.S. of distant relation, especially by marriage.

   some shirttail cousins I'd never met.

verb (used with object)

1. Informal. to append or add (an item) to a discussion or writing.

   The tariff concessions were shirttailed onto the trade bill.

Etymology

Origin of shirttail

An Americanism dating back to 1835–45; shirt + tail ¹

Example Sentences

Wiping his eyes with his shirttail, UCLA’s Tyger Campbell walked over to the family of late former teammate Jalen Hill near midcourt inside Pauley Pavilion.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 10, 2022

He broke one tackle — tight end Demetrius Harris had his shirttail at one point — and outran several others behind a wall of blockers.

From Seattle Times • Sep. 26, 2021

Instead, Sexton wrote he found three holes near the shirttail.

From Fox News • Apr. 3, 2021

During this tutorial outburst his shirttail was flapping out behind him, and he alternated between a perch on an overturned wastebasket and the blackboard to illustrate each point.

From Salon • Sep. 30, 2018

After Aunt Seah got too old to keep me, I was shuffled from one relative to another—some of them pretty far down on the shirttail.

From "Hattie Big Sky" by Kirby Larson