tail 
England (the allusion being to the lion in the English na- He 
tional coat of arms), and thereby to please the enemies of the q 
6160 
He seith to me he is the last in the tayle of his lyflode, 
that country. [Humorous slang.] With the tail be- 
tween the legs, having the tail closely incurved between 
the legs as a dog in terror or dejection ; hence, with a 
cowed or abject air or look, like that of a beaten cur; 
having a humiliated appearance. [Colloq.] 
With the other dogs Zed and Toad come, and very much 
as if with their tails between their legs. 
W. M. Baker, New Timothy, p. 264. 
tail 1 (tal), r. [< tail^, .] I. trans. 1. To fur- 
._ 
weche is CCCL. marke and b etter. 
tail-feather 
ing. 2. In a ship, the carved work between the 
cheeks, fastened to the knee of the head. Tottcii. 
Estate in tail. See estate. General tail, in law, an 
estate tail limited to the issue of a particular person, but 
not to that of a particular couple ; an estate tail general 
(which see, under estate). Special tail, title resulting 
from a gift restrained to certain heirs of the donee's body, 
and not descending to the heirs in general. 
II. .. In ltm\ being in tail ; set apart, as an 
estate limited to a particular line of descent. 
Paston Letters, I. 89. tail . bone (tal'bon), n. 1. The coccyx, or os 
SwU U 'a te il^f^^ithVtali:o;aiiy^n g Est^^ female, estate tail general, etc. testate 
nisn witn a tail or n au, ui m^ Fee tail. See/ee2 
caUedatail; fix a tail to: as, to tod a kite or a tail2 ( ta l), v. t. [< ME. tailen, taylen, taillen, 
salmon-fly. tailgen, < OF. tattler, F. tailler = It. tagliare, < 
Apes and Japes, and marmusets tayled. 
Uakhiyt's Voyages, I. 193. 
A perfect distinction closes a perfect sense, and is 
marked with a round punct, thus . or a tailed punct, 
thus? A. Hume, Orthographic (E. E. T. S.), p. 34. 
A double shackle is fixed, and each side is first tailed 
that is to say, a wire is passed round the porcelain and 
bound in the ordinary way, leaving one end projecting to 
a distance of from eighteen inches to two feet. 
Preeee and Sivewright, Telegraphy, p. 224. 
2. To join or connect as a tail ; fix in a line or 
in continuation. 
Each new row of houses tailed on its drains to those of 
its neighbours. 
ilayhew, London Labour and London Poor, n. 181. 
3. To remove the tail or end of; free from any 
projection: as, to tail gooseberries. [Colloq.] 
4. To pull by the tail. [Humorous.] 
The conqu'ring foe they soon assail'd. 
First Trulla stav'd, and Cerdon tatt'd, 
Until their mastiffes loos'd their hold. 
S. Butler, Hudibras, I. iii. 134. 
5. In Australia, to herd or take care of, as 
sheep or cattle. 
Desmard was allowed to gain experience by tailing (herd- 
ing) those already brought in. 
A. C. Grant, Bush Life in Queensland, II. 115. 
To stave and tail. See stave. To tail in, in carp., to 
fasten by one end into a wall or any support : as, to tail in 
a timber. 
II. intrans. To extend, move, pass, or form 
a line or continuation in some way suggestive 
of a tail in any sense : used in certain phrases 
descriptive of particular kinds of action To 
tail after, to follow closely upon the heels of ; tag ; tail. 
To tail away, to move, stray, or fall behind in a scat- 
tering line ; draw or be drawn out in a line, like men or 
dogs in a hunt. 
They were, however, tailing away fast, as we afterwards 
discovered. W. H. Russell, Diary in India, II. 369. 
To tail Off. (a) Same as to tail away. (6) To wind up. 
[Colloq.] 
The soft-hearted Slowboy tailed o/at this juncture into 
, . a deplorable howl. 
Dickens, Cricket on the Hearth, iii. 
(c) To stop, as drinking, gradually ; end by easy stages ; 
taper off. [Colloq. ] To tail On, to join in a line ; form 
a tail or cue for some purpose. 
All hands tailing on, we ran it fa boom] through the bow- 
sprit cap. W. C. Russell, Sailor's Sweetheart, xiv. 
To tail up and down the stream, to tail to the tide 
coecygis, when its elements are ankylosed in 
one bone, as in man. 2. A caudal or coccygeal 
vertebra, when there are several, free and dis- 
ti net from one another. They range in number from 
three or four (in the gorilla and man) to a hundred or 
more, and when numerous very commonly resemble the 
joints or phalanges of a finger or toe. See cuts under 
Catarrhina and pygostyle. 
tail-coat (tal'kot), n. A coat with tails; spe- 
cifically, a coat with a divided skirt cut away 
Mr _ . _ . in front, like a dress-coat, or the so-called swal- 
ML. taleare, also (after Rom. ) talare, cut off, cut low-tailed coat, 
(timber), < L. talea, a cutting: see few/ 2 ,)!.] 1. tail-corn (tal'korn), n. Kernels of wheat which 
To cut or carve ; carve out. 2f. To mark on a require to be separated from the ma,ss as unfit 
tally; set down. 
3if I bigge and borwe it but jif it be ytailled, 
I forjete it as jerne, and jif men me it axe, 
Sixe sithes or seuene I forsake it with othes. 
Piers Plowman (B), v. 429. 
3. To cut off or limit as a settled possession ; 
entail; encumber or limit, as by an entail. 
If ony persone make ony compleynt to myn executores 
that I have purchasyd ony taylid londes be this my will 
ordeynid to be sold, . . . thannelwillthattherightheyris 
purchase as be such taylid londes, if ony be in my posses- 
sion or in my feffeez handes. Paston Letters, I. 452. 
Nevertheless his bond of two thousand pounds where- 
with he was tailed continued uncancelled, and was called 
on the next Parliament. 
, 
Fuller. (Imp. Diet.) 
for market, but are available for home use. 
Halliwell. [Prov. Eng.] 
tail-coverts (tal'kuv"erts), n.pl. The feathers 
overlying or underlying the rectrices of a bird's 
tail ; the tectrices of the tail ; the calypteria. 
These coverts are divided into superior and inferior, or 
upper and under coverts. They are commonly short, 
covering only the bases of the rectrices, but sometimes 
extend far beyond them ; the gorgeous train of the pea- 
cock, for example, consists of tectrices, not rectrices, as 
is also the case with the beautiful train of the paradise 
trogon. The ornamental feathers called marabou-feathers 
are the under tail-coverts of a species of stork, and in cer- 
tain other storks these coverts simulate rectrices. See 
diagram under Wrdi, and cuts under peafowl, Pelargomnr- 
phte, Tseniopygia, and trogon. 
of the crown and all royal towns. Tailage was 
abolished in the fourteenth century. See aid, 
., 3. 
tailage, tallage (ta'laj, tal'aj), n. [Also tail- tail-crab (tal'krab), w. In mining, a crab for 
lagc, taliage, talliage; <: ME. tailage, taylage, tail- overhauling and belaying the tail-rope, or rope 
lage, talage,yF. iaillage,< tailler, cut: see tail'*, used in moving the pumping-gear in a shaft. 
.] A part cut off or taken away; especially, tail-drain (tal'dran), n. A drain forming a re- 
a share of a man's substance paid as tribute; ceptacle for all the water that runs out of the 
hence, tribute; toll; tax; specifically, a com- other drains of a field or meadow, 
pulsory aid levied from time to time by the tailed 1 (tald), a. [< ME. tailed, Detailed; < tain 
Anglo-Norman kings upon the demesne lands + -erf 2 .] 1. Having a tail; caudate; appen- 
daged; urodele; macrurous: as, the tailed ba- 
trachians ; the tailed wings of a butterfly. 
Snouted and tailed like a boar, footed like a goat. 
Grew. 
2. In bot., provided with a slender or tail-like 
appendage of any kind: as, tailed anthers. 3. 
Formed like or into a tail ; shaped as a tail : as, 
tailed appendages; arat-tei/edfile. 4. Inner., 
having a tail, as a beast or bird used as a bear- 
ing: used only when the tail is of a different 
tincture from the rest: as, a lion sable, tailed 
gules. Also queued. [Rare.] Tailed amphib- 
ians, the Urodela. Tailed rime. Same as caudate^ rime. 
See rime. Tailed wasps, the Siricidie or Uroceridx. 
Tailed worm, a gephyrean of the family Priapulida: so 
No pryde, non envye, non avaryce, 
No lord, no tayl 
taylage by no tyrannye. 
Chaucer, Former Age, 
1. 54. 
As wyde as the worlde is wonyeth there none 
But vnder tribut and taUlage as tykes and cherles. 
Piers Plowman (B), xix. 37. 
On the 6th of February, 1304, Edward ordered a tallage 
to be collected from his cities, boroughs, and lands in de- 
mesne, assessed, according to the historian, at a sixth of 
moveables. Stubb*, Const. Hist., 275. 
called from the filiform caudal appendage. 
After the disappearance of the danegeld, in 1163, the 
auxilium [or aid] was enforced as a frequent tax from all 
the tenants, rural and urban alike ; and these compulsory 
auxilia from all the tenants [of the royal demesne] are usu- >/ _ uv 
ally termed Tallages. S. Dowell, Taxes in England, I. 42. tailed 2 ( t al<J), a. [< ME. tailed; < i 
Statute concerningtailagefdetaitoj/to non concedendo), g ub j ect to tail; entailed. 
an English statute or ordinance, probably of 1297, declar- ... * . /,-,/ 'j\ , i mi,_. j,:,,,i ,,-* I.,,A 
ing that tailage should not be raised without the consent tail-end (tal end), . 1. The hind part or end 
of Parliament, nor goods taken by the king's officers for of an animal, opposite the head ; the tail : as, 
purveyance without the owner's assent, and creating simi- the tail-end of a worm. 2. The tip of the tail ; 
lar restrictions. Tailage of groats, a tax of id. (a groat) 
on the goods of every person, except infants not over 14 
and beggars, granted to the king by Parliament in 1377 : 
said to be the first instance of a poll-tax. 
the tag: as, the tail-end of the fox is white. 
3. The end, finish, or termination ; the fag-end ; 
tailings : as, the tail-end of an entertainment, 
(nmZ) to swing up and down with the tide : said of a said to be the first instance of a poll-tax. tailings : as, tne 1 "fwwuu 
ship at anchor in a river or tideway. tailage, tallage (ta'laj, talaj), ._*.; pret. and of a procession, or of a storm. [Colloq.] 
tail 2 (tal), n. and a. [Also, in Sc., with the orig. 
final syllable preserved, tailye, tailzie, etc. ; < 
ME. taile, tayle, taille,< OF. taitte, a cut, slit, jag, 
shred, size, stature, also a tax, tribute, etc., F. 
taille, a cut, cutting, hewing, etc. (in most of the 
senses of OF., and others), = Pr. talha = Sp. 
taja, talla, tola = Pg. tala, talha = It. taglia, a 
cut, cutting, etc.,< L. talea, a slender stick, rod, 
staff, bar, in agriculture a cutting, set, layer for 
planting, scion, twig. Hence also ult. tally 1 (a 
doublet of tail 2 ), tail?, v., tailor, detail, entail, 
pp. tailaged, tallaged, ppr. tailaging, tailaging. 
[< tailage, tallage, ;.] To lay an impost on; 
levy tailage upon ; tax. 
In the year 1332, the year that witnessed Edward's un- 
successful attempt to tallage demesne, he issued an ordi- 
nance for the collection of a subsidy on the wool of deni- 
zens. Stubbs, Const. Hist., 277. 
When scutage was paid by the military tenants, the 
king tallaged . . . his urban and rural non-military ten- 
The tail-end of a shower caught us. 
W. Black, Phaeton, xxii. 
A dray with low wheels and broad axle, surmounted by 
a box open at the tail-end. L. Wallace, Ben-Hur, p. 208. 
4. pi. Inferior corn separated from grain of a 
superior quality. Compare tailing 1 , 3. 
Everybody 'ud be wanting bread made o' tail-ends. 
George Eliot, Adam Bede, vi. 
ants, or in other words the towns, most of which were tail-feather (tal'feTH"er), . One of the fea- 
built upon royal demesne, and the tenants of the demesne 
-, ., <,/, , ut,,*, ..., outside towns, requiring them to contribute towards the 
i,*,,7; "+ Ti,rt T?/-vm -,,m +T.rt,,/ii expenses of the expedition on hand. 
intaglio, etc. The Rom. noun, though ' s Dml , M TaMS , n England m 74 . 
in form from the L. noun, is in most senses 
from the verb derived from the L. noun.] I. 
n. If. Something cut or carved; specifically, a 
tally. See tallyi. 
And with Lumbardes lettres I ladde golde to Rome, 
And toke it by taille here and tolde hem there lasse. 
Piers Plowman (E), v. 252. 
Hit is skorid here on a tayle, 
Have brok hit wel withowt fayle. 
JtfS. Cantab, ft. v. 48, f. 53. (Halliwell.) 
2f. A reckoning; count; amount; tally. 
Breketh vp my berne-dore and bereth awei my whete, 
And taketh me bote a tayle of ten quarter oten. , 
Piers Plowman (A), iv. 45. 
tailageability, tallageability (ta"laj-, taFaj- 
a-bil'i-ti), n. [< tallage + -atile + -ity.~\ Capa- 
city or fitness for being tailaged. [Rare.] 
These lists served to give the King a clue as to the tal- 
lageability of the Jews. 
New Yuri: Nation, May 31, 1888, p. 443. 
tailagert, tallagert (ta'laj-er, tal'aj-er), n. 
[ME. taillager, tai/lagier, < OF. taillagier, < tail- 
lage : see tailage.] A collector of taxes. 
Taylagiers and these monyours. 
Rom. of the Rose, 1. 6811. 
tail-bay (tal'ba), . 1. In a canal-lock, the 
space between the tail-gates and the lower 
Whether that he payde or took by taille, pond E H Knigjl t _ 3. In a framed floor, one 
Thlt L waTay bifZVnd ingood stat. of the spaces_ between a girder and the wall. 
Chattcer, Gen. Prol. to C. T., 1. 570. tail-block (tal'blok), n. Naut., a single block 
3. In law, a setting off or limitation of owner- having a short piece of rope attached to it by 
ship; a state of entailment. which it may be fastened to any object at 
As if the Rain-bow were in Tail *SlJkSti SS J?* *?"vi ^ 
Settled on him [a Chameleon] and his Heirs Male. tail-board (tal bord), n. 1. The board at the 
Prior, The Chameleon, hinder end of a cart or wagon, which can be 
4f. An entail. removed or let down for convenience in unload- 
thers of a bird's tail ; specifically, the rectrices, 
or rudder-feathers,usually stiff pennaceous fea- 
thers, always devoid of a hyporachis, as distin- 
guished from the tectrices or tail-coverts. Tail- 
feathers, like flight-feathers, have for the most part a wide 
inner and narrow outer vane, and when the tail is closed 
or folded they overlie one another alternately from side 
to side. The two middle feathers, whose webs are more 
nearly equal, and which overlie all Ihe rest, are some- 
times distinguished as deck-feathers. Tail-feathers are al- 
ways paired, and hence of an even number. The number 
prevailing among birds is 12 ; this is characteristic, hav- 
ing few exceptions among all Passeres, whether oscine 
or clamatoi-ial, and among many other birds, as birds of 
prey. In picarian birds 10 is the rule, though many have 
12, and a few only 8 ; woodpeckers have 12, though appa- 
rently 10, one pair being rudimentary. In pigeons the 
rule is 12 or 14 ; sometimes there are 16 or 20. In gallina- 
ceous birds the numbers run from 12 to 18 or 20. Waders 
have usually 12. often more, up to 20. Swimming-birds 
have sometimes only 12, usually higher numbers, as 16, 
18, 20, 24, or even 32. The archrcopteryx appears to have 
had 40. In a few birds the tail-feathers proper are ex- 
tremely modified, as in the lyre-bird. (See Menura, Tro- 
chUidse.) Tail-feathers which project far beyond the rest 
are said to be lony-exserted. Shapes of individual rectrices 
are described as truncate, incised, linear, acute, acuminate . 
filamentous, spatulate, mucronate, etc. (See these words.) 
The relative lengths of rectriees go far to determine the 
shape of the tail as a whole, which is usually in the form of 
a fan. The termination of the tail is described as even. 
