*tail*

n. 1. a horse bred for racing.
Syn. -- racehorse, race horse. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

a. Embattled. [ Obs. ] Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ F. bataillant, p. pr. See Battle, v. i. ] [ Obs. ] Prepared for battle; combatant; warlike. Spenser. -- n. A combatant. Shelton. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ OF. bataillos, fr. bataille. See Battle, n. ] Arrayed for battle; fit or eager for battle; warlike. [ Obs. ] “In battailous aspect.” Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Black + tail. ] 1. (Zool.) A fish; the ruff or pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Zool.) The black-tailed deer (Cervus Columbianus or Cariacus Columbianus) of California and Oregon; also, the mule deer of the Rocky Mountains. See Mule deer. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) A large grackle or blackbird (Quiscalus major), found in the Southern United States. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Bob + tail. ] An animal (as a horse or dog) with a short tail. [ 1913 Webster ]

Rag, tag, and bobtail, the rabble. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Bobtailed. “Bobtail cur.” Marryat. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Having the tail cut short, or naturally short; curtailed; as, a bobtailed horse or dog; a bobtailed coat. [ 1913 Webster ]

. (Aëronautics) In a flying machine, a tail or rudder, usually fixed, resembling a box kite. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. (Zool.) The European redstart; -- so called from the red color of its tail. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) An insect of the genera Lepisma, Campodea, etc., belonging to the Thysanura. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. the fur of a very young karakul lamb. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

2. a hardy coarse-haired sheep of central Asia; the lambs are valued for their soft curly black fur.
Syn. -- caracul, karakul. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. [ from Brompton Hospital, London. ](Pharmacy) A mixture containing morphine and cocaine, and sometimes other narcotic substances, such as heroin, in an alcoholic solution, administered mostly to terminally ill patients, especially cancer patients, to relieve severe pain. Its use is not universally accepted as good medical practice. [ PJC ]

n. 1. a whip used as an instrument of punishment consisting of nine pieces of knotted line or cord fastened to a handle; -- formerly used to flog offenders on the bare back; -- called also the cat. It was used in the British Navy to maintain discipline on board sailing ships.
Syn. -- cat. [ WordNet 1.5 +PJC ]

n. See Timothy, Cat-tail, Cirrus. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Bot.) A tall erect rush or flag (Typha latifolia) growing widely in fresh and salt marshes, with long, flat, sword-shaped leaves, having clusters of small brown flowers in a dense cylindrical spike at the top of the stem; -- called also bulrush and reed mace. The leaves are frequently used for seating chairs, making mats, etc. See Catkin. [ 1913 Webster + WordNet 1.5 ]

☞ The lesser cat-tail is Typha angustifolia. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. the loose back flap of a coat that hangs below the waist. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. pl. [ fig. ] the influence of another person; the effect of association with another person; as, he was elected to office on the president's coattails. [ PJC ]

on the coattails of (a) helped by association with another person. See coattails. (b) caused by, or immediately following (an event). [ PJC ]

n. 1. A beverage made of brandy, whisky, or gin, iced, flavored, and sweetened. [ U. S. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Stock Breeding) A horse, not of pure breed, but having only one eighth or one sixteenth impure blood in his veins. Darwin. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A mean, half-hearted fellow; a coward. [ Slang, Eng. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

It was in the second affair that poor little Barney showed he was a cocktail. Thackeray. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Zool.) A species of rove beetle; -- so called from its habit of elevating the tail. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) The American wood rabbit (Lepus sylvaticus); -- also called Molly cottontail. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. contretaille; contre (L. contra) + taille cut. See Tally. ] A counter tally; correspondence (in sound). [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

At the countretaille, in return. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Having the tail cropped. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Steam Engine) A bar connecting the ends of the side rods or levers of a backaction or side-lever engine. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Carp.) Dovetail. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. United or fastened by a dovetailed joint. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Curtailed p. pr. & vb. n. Curtailing. ] [ See Curtal. ] To cut off the end or tail, or any part, of; to shorten; to abridge; to diminish; to reduce. [ 1913 Webster ]

I, that am curtailed of this fair proportion. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Our incomes have been curtailed; his salary has been doubled. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The scroll termination of any architectural member, as of a step, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

A dog with a docked tail; formerly, the dog of a person not qualified to course, which, by the forest laws, must have its tail cut short, partly as a mark, and partly from a notion that the tail is necessary to a dog in running; hence, a dog not fit for sporting. [ 1913 Webster ]

Hope is a curtail dog in some affairs. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who curtails. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The act or result of curtailing or cutting off. Bancroft. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A slovenly woman; a slattern; a draggle-tail. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } a. Having the lower ends of garments defiled by trailing in mire or filth; draggle-tailed. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Dag a loose end + tail. ] Daggle-tailed; having the tail clogged with daglocks. “Dag-tailed sheep.” Bp. Hall.

n. [ F. détail, fr. détailler to cut in pieces, tell in detail; pref. dé- (L. de or dis-) + tailler to cut. See Tailor. ] 1. A minute portion; one of the small parts; a particular; an item; -- used chiefly in the plural; as, the details of a scheme or transaction. [ 1913 Webster ]

The details of the campaign in Italy. Motley. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A narrative which relates minute points; an account which dwells on particulars. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Mil.) The selection for a particular service of a person or a body of men; hence, the person or the body of men so selected. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Arch. & Mach.) (a) A minor part, as, in a building, the cornice, caps of the buttresses, capitals of the columns, etc., or (called larger details) a porch, a gable with its windows, a pavilion, or an attached tower. (b) A detail drawing.

Detail drawing, a drawing of the full size, or on a large scale, of some part of a building, machine, etc. --
In detail, in subdivisions; part by part; item by item; circumstantially; with particularity.

Syn. -- Account; relation; narrative; recital; explanation; narration. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Detailed p. pr. & vb. n. Detailing. ] [ Cf. F. détailler to cut up in pieces, tell in detail. See Detail, n. ] 1. To relate in particulars; to particularize; to report minutely and distinctly; to enumerate; to specify; as, he detailed all the facts in due order. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Mil.) To tell off or appoint for a particular service, as an officer, a troop, or a squadron. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To provide with fine or intricate added decoration. [ PJC ]

Syn. -- Detail, Detach. Detail respects the act of individualizing the person or body that is separated; detach, the removing for the given end or object. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. 1. Developed or executed with care and in minute detail; as, a detailed plan.
Syn. -- elaborate, elaborated. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

2. Containing details; containing subordinate parts as well as more general discussion; -- of a discourse; as, a specific and detailed account of the accident. Opposite of sketchy, general, vague.
Syn. -- circumstantial, particularized, particularised. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

3. having fine or intricate added decoration. [ PJC ]

n. One who details. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. description of something in detail.
Syn. -- particularization. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

2. Thorough cleaning, esp. of the interior of automobiles.
Syn. -- detailed cleaning. [ PJC ]

n. confidential information.
Syn. -- dope, low-down, poop, inside information. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

v. t. (Law) To free from entailment. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Bot.) A hardy species of British grass (Cynosurus cristatus) which abounds in grass lands, and is well suited for making straw plait; -- called also goldseed. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. a Mexican plant (Sedum morganianum) bearing small rose-colored flowers; called also burro's tail, horse's tail, and lamb's tail. RHUD [ PJC ]

n. (Carp.) A flaring tenon, or tongue (shaped like a bird's tail spread), and a mortise, or socket, into which it fits tightly, making an interlocking joint between two pieces which resists pulling a part in all directions except one. [ 1913 Webster ]

Dovetail molding (Arch.), a molding of any convex section arranged in a sort of zigzag, like a series of dovetails. --
Dovetail saw (Carp.), a saw used in dovetailing. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Dovetailed p. pr. & vb. n. Dovetailing. ] 1. (Carp.) (a) To cut to a dovetail. (b) To join by means of dovetails. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To fit in or connect strongly, skillfully, or nicely; to fit ingeniously or complexly. [ 1913 Webster ]

He put together a piece of joinery so crossly indented and whimsically dovetailed . . . that it was indeed a very curious show. Burke. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A draggle-tail; a slattern. Halliwell. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A slattern who suffers her gown to trail in the mire; a drabble-tail. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Untidy; sluttish; slatternly. W. Irving. [ 1913 Webster ]