tails

[ teylz ]

/ teɪlz /

adjective, adverb

(of a coin) with the reverse facing up: On the next toss, the coin came up tails.Compare heads.

noun

tail¹(def 6).

Nearby words

Origin of tails

First recorded in 1675–85; tail¹ + -s¹

Definition for tails (2 of 3)

tail

[ teyl ]

/ teɪl /

noun

the hindmost part of an animal, especially that forming a distinct, flexible appendage to the trunk.

something resembling or suggesting this in shape or position: the tail of a kite.

Astronomy. the luminous stream extending from the head of a comet.

the reverse of a coin (opposed to head).

Aeronautics. the after portion of an airplane or the like.

tails,

tail coat.
the tapering skirts or ends at the back of a coat, especially a tail coat.
men's full-dress attire.
Distilling. alcohol obtained in the final distillation.Compare head(def 22).

Slang. the buttocks or rump.

Informal. a person who trails or keeps a close surveillance of another, as a detective or spy: The police decided to put a tail on the suspect.

Informal. the trail of a fleeing person or animal: They put a detective on his tail.

Slang: Vulgar.

sexual intercourse.
Usually Disparaging and Offensive. a woman considered as a sex object.

the hinder, bottom, or end part of anything; the rear.

a final or concluding part of a sentence, conversation, social gathering, etc.; conclusion; end: The tail of the speech was boring. Toward the tail of the concert I'd begun to get tired.

the inferior or unwanted part of anything.

a long braid or tress of hair.

an arrangement of objects or persons extending as or as if a tail.

a line of persons awaiting their turns at something; queue.

a retinue; train.

the lower part of a pool or stream.

the exposed portion of a piece of roofing, as a slate.

Printing, Bookbinding. the bottom of a page or book.

Printing. the lower portion of a type, as of g, y, or Q.

adjective

coming from behind: a tail breeze.

being in the back or rear: the tail section of a plane.

verb (used with object)

Informal. to follow in order to hinder escape of or to observe: to tail a suspect.

to form or furnish with a tail.

to form or constitute the tail or end of (a procession, retinue, etc.).

to terminate; come after or behind; follow like a tail.

to join or attach (one thing) at the tail or end of another.

Building Trades. to fasten (a beam, stone, etc.) by one end (usually followed by in or into).

to dock the tail of (a horse, dog, etc.).

verb (used without object)

to follow close behind: She always tails after her sister.

to disappear gradually or merge into: The path tails off into the woods.

to form, or move or pass in, a line or column suggestive of a tail: The hikers tailed up the narrow path.

(of a boat) to have or take a position with the stern in a particular direction.

Building Trades. (of a beam, stone, etc.) to be fastened by one end (usually followed by in or into).

Origin of tail

before 900; Middle English; Old English tægl; cognate with Old Norse tagl horse's tail, Gothic tagl hair, Middle High German zagel tail, Middle Low German tagel rope-end

Related forms

tail·er, nountail·less, adjectivetail·less·ly, adverbtail·less·ness, noun

tail·like, adjective

Can be confusedtail tale

Usage note

The meanings “sexual intercourse” and “female sexual partner” are both vulgar slang. When referring to a person, the term tail is usually used with disparaging intent and perceived as insulting.

Definition for tails (3 of 3)

tail

[ teyl ]

/ teɪl /

Law.

noun

the limitation of an estate to a person and the person’s heirs or some particular class of such heirs.

adjective

limited to a specified line of heirs; entailed.

Origin of tail

1200–50; (noun) Middle English taille < Old French, derivative of taillier to cut < Late Latin tāliāre (see tailor¹); (adj.) late Middle English taille < Anglo-French tailé cut, shaped, limited, past participle of tailler

Related formstail·less, adjective

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

Examples from the Web for tails

Chicken satay and shrimp cocktail are also good options, as you can watch the skewers and tails stack up.
12 Thanksgiving Weight Loss Tips That Actually Work|DailyBurn|November 27, 2014|DAILY BEAST
She was gambling on a coin toss where somehow “heads, you win” would have been politically more advantageous than “tails, I lose.”
Keystone Senate Failure Is Environmental Kabuki Theater|Ben Jacobs|November 19, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Google has more than a million hits—and countless images—for the term “babies born with tails.”
The Crazy Way Creationists Try To Explain Human Tails Without Evolution|Karl W. Giberson|June 1, 2014|DAILY BEAST
And yet the dioramas of Adam and Eve in the Creation Museum do not picture them with tails, for some reason.
My Debate With an ‘Intelligent Design’ Theorist|Karl W. Giberson|April 21, 2014|DAILY BEAST

I have no idea how Intelligent Design theorists explain humans with tails.
My Debate With an ‘Intelligent Design’ Theorist|Karl W. Giberson|April 21, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The two horses, instinctively drawing close together, turned their tails to the driving flakes.
Two on the Trail|Hulbert Footner
Just fancy, I saw rats and ran about on all fours to put a grain of salt under their tails.
L'Assommoir|Emile Zola
The tails of the Nejd horses are as peculiar as their heads, and are as essential to their beauty.
A Pilgrimage to Nejd, Vol. 2 [of 2]|Anne Blunt
After a time his displeasure abated, as he caught sight of a dish of Syrian lambs' tails, dressed with spices, a favourite dainty.
Herodias|Gustave Flaubert
One could find nothing but paper money, and a five-franc note was of no use in a matter of heads or tails!
The Enemies of Women|Vicente Blasco Ibez

British Dictionary definitions for tails (1 of 3)

tails

/ (teɪlz) /

pl n

an informal name for tail coat

interjection, adverb

with the reverse side of a coin uppermost: used as a call before tossing a coinCompare heads

British Dictionary definitions for tails (2 of 3)

tail

/ (teɪl) /

noun

the region of the vertebrate body that is posterior to or above the anus and contains an elongation of the vertebral column, esp forming a flexible movable appendageRelated adjective: caudal

anything resembling such an appendage in form or position; the bottom, lowest, or rear partthe tail of a shirt

the last part or partsthe tail of the storm

the rear part of an aircraft including the fin, tailplane, and control surfaces; empennage

astronomy the luminous stream of gas and dust particles, up to 200 million kilometres long, driven from the head of a comet, when close to the sun, under the effect of the solar wind and light pressure

the rear portion of a bomb, rocket, missile, etc, usually fitted with guiding or stabilizing vanes

a line of people or things

a long braid or tress of haira ponytail; a pigtail

Also called: tailfly angling the lowest fly on a wet-fly cast

a final short line in a stanza

informal a person employed to follow and spy upon another or others

an informal word for buttocksSee buttock

taboo, slang

the female genitals
a woman considered sexually (esp in the phrases piece of tail, bit of tail)

printing

the margin at the foot of a page
the bottom edge of a book

the lower end of a pool or part of a stream

informal the course or track of a fleeing person or animalthe police are on my tail

(modifier) coming from or situated in the reara tail wind

turn tail to run away; escape

with one's tail between one's legs in a state of utter defeat or confusion

verb

to form or cause to form the tail

to remove the tail of (an animal); dock

(tr) to remove the stalk ofto top and tail the gooseberries

(tr) to connect (objects, ideas, etc) together by or as if by the tail

(tr) informal to follow stealthily

(tr) Australian to tend (cattle) on foot

(intr) (of a vessel) to assume a specified position, as when at a mooring

to build the end of (a brick, joist, etc) into a wall or (of a brick, etc) to have one end built into a wall

Word Origin for tail

Old English tægel; related to Old Norse tagl horse's tail, Gothic tagl hair, Old High German zagal tail

British Dictionary definitions for tails (3 of 3)

tail

/ (teɪl) property law /

noun

the limitation of an estate or interest to a person and the heirs of his bodySee also entail

adjective

(immediately postpositive) (of an estate or interest) limited in this way

Derived Formstailless, adjective

Word Origin for tail

C15: from Old French taille a division; see tailor, tally

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 tails (1 of 3)

tail

n.2

"limitation of ownership," a legal term, early 14c. in Anglo-French; late 13c. in Anglo-Latin, in most cases a shortened form of entail.

Word Origin and History for tails (1 of 3)

tail

"follow secretly," U.S. colloquial, 1907, is from earlier sense of "follow or drive cattle," from tail (n.1). Related: Tailed; tailing. Tail off "diminish" is attested from 1854.

Word Origin and History for tails (2 of 3)

tail

n.1

"hindmost part of an animal," Old English tægl, tægel, from Proto-Germanic *tagla- (cf. Old High German zagal, German Zagel "tail," dialectal German Zagel "penis," Old Norse tagl "horse's tail"), from PIE *doklos, from root *dek- "something long and thin" (referring to such things as fringe, lock of hair, horsetail; cf. Old Irish dual "lock of hair," Sanskrit dasah "fringe, wick"). The primary sense, at least in Germanic, seems to have been "hairy tail," or just "tuft of hair," but already in Old English the word was applied to the hairless "tails" of worms, bees, etc. Another Old English word for "tail" was steort (see stark).

Meaning "reverse side of a coin" is from 1680s; that of "backside of a person, buttocks" is recorded from c.1300; slang sense of "pudenda" is from mid-14c.; that of "woman as sex object" is from 1933, earlier "prostitute" (1846). The tail-race (1776) is the part of a mill race below the wheel. To turn tail "take flight" (1580s) originally was a term in falconry. The image of the tail wagging the dog is attested from 1907.

Medicine definitions for tails

tail

[ tāl ]

n.

The posterior part of an animal, especially when elongated and extending beyond the trunk or main part of the body.

Science definitions for tails

tail

[ tāl ]

The rear, elongated part of many animals, extending beyond the trunk or main part of the body. Tails are used variously for balance, combat, communication, mating displays, fat storage, propulsion and course correction in water, and course correction in air.

A long, stream of gas or dust forced from the head of a comet when it is close to the Sun. Tails can be up to 150 million km (93 million miles) long, and they always point away from the Sun because of the force of the solar wind.♦ Plasma tails, or ion tails, appear bluish and straight and narrow, and are formed when solar wind forces ionized gas to stream off the coma. Dust tails are wide and curved, and are formed when solar heat forces trails of dust off the coma; solid particles reflecting the Sun's light create their bright yellow color.

Idioms and Phrases with tails

tail

In addition to the idioms beginning with tail

tail between one's legs, with one's
tail end
tail off
tail wagging the dog, the

also see:

bright-eyed and bushy-tailed
can't make head or tail of
get off one's tail
heads or tails
in two shakes (of a lamb's tail)
on someone's coattails
tiger by the tail
turn tail
work one's fingers to the bone (tail off)

tails

adjective, adverb

noun

RELATED CONTENT

RELATED WORDS

Nearby words

Origin of tails

Definition for tails (2 of 3)

tail

noun

adjective

verb (used with object)

verb (used without object)

Origin of tail

Usage note

Definition for tails (3 of 3)

tail

noun

adjective

Origin of tail

Examples from the Web for tails

British Dictionary definitions for tails (1 of 3)

tails

pl n

interjection, adverb

British Dictionary definitions for tails (2 of 3)

tail

noun

verb

Word Origin for tail

British Dictionary definitions for tails (3 of 3)

tail

noun

adjective

Word Origin for tail

Word Origin and History for tails (1 of 3)

tail

Word Origin and History for tails (1 of 3)

tail

Word Origin and History for tails (2 of 3)

tail

Medicine definitions for tails

tail

n.

Science definitions for tails

tail

Idioms and Phrases with tails

tail