tailspin

[teyl-spin]

noun Also tail spin.

spin(def 23).

a sudden and helpless collapse into failure, confusion, or the like.

verb (used without object), tail·spinned, tail·spin·ning.

to take or experience a sudden and dramatic downturn: After the mill closes, the local economy may tailspin.

Origin of tailspin

First recorded in 1910–15; tail¹ + spin

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for tail-spin

Contemporary Examples of tail-spin

Introduce the concept of King Charles and Queen Camilla, and the numbers go into a tail-spin (even I get queasy).
Republicans in the UK!
Tom Sykes
May 20, 2012

Historical Examples of tail-spin

Vainly the pilot strove to avoid the nerve-racking "tail-spin."
Billy Barcroft, R.N.A.S.
Percy F. Westerman
The motor made an uneven sound, threatening to stall, and the plane went into a tail-spin.
Linda Carlton, Air Pilot
Edith Lavell

British Dictionary definitions for tail-spin

tailspin

noun

aeronautics another name for spin (def. 16)

informal a state of confusion or panic

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

Word Origin and History for tail-spin

tailspin

"downward spiraling dive of an aircraft," 1916, from tail (n.1) + spin (n.). Figurative sense of "state of loss of control" is from 1928.

Idioms and Phrases with tail-spin

tailspin

see go into a tailspin.