Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of tailed
Middle English word dating back to 1250–1300; see origin at tail 1, -ed 3
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
She was arrested on 13 December, when she tailed a food delivery worker to enter the property through a side gate.
From BBC • Jun. 23, 2026
Details about the underlying allegation remain murky, but the department sources familiar with the matter said the LAPD’s secretive Special Operations Division tailed officers who were under investigation.
From Los Angeles Times • May 7, 2026
Sauropods were long necked, long tailed plant eaters that grew into the largest animals ever to walk on land, yet their earliest life stages were small, exposed, and highly vulnerable.
From Science Daily • Feb. 1, 2026
Within weeks of arriving, I loathed Madras, where rats stole the padding from my earphones, the humidity left me weak and men tailed my mother in traffic, desperate to buy our imported car.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 29, 2025
The tide was running so that long streaks of foam tailed away from the reef and for a moment they felt that the boat was moving steadily astern.
From "Lord of the Flies" by William Golding
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.
