tail
- 01 A1 Beginner
n.the part that sticks out from the back of an animal's body.
n.the caudal appendage of an animal, typically extending beyond the main torso near the posterior.
Simple“The dog wagged its tail happily when its owner came home.”
In context“The lemur uses its long, ringed tail primarily for balance while leaping between the high branches of the rainforest canopy.”
- 02 B1 Intermediate
n.the back or end part of something, like an airplane or a long line.
n.the rear structure or terminal part of an object, such as the empennage of an aircraft or the end of a queue.
Simple“The logo of the airline is painted clearly on the tail of the plane.”
In context“The investigators focused their search on the tail section of the wreckage, hoping to recover the flight data recorder located in the rear.”
- 03 B1 Intermediate
n.the side of a coin that does not have a person's face on it.
n.the reverse side of a coin, typically featuring the denomination rather than a portrait.
Simple“I flipped a coin and it landed on tails, so I had to wash the dishes.”
In context“In a fair coin toss, the probability of landing on tails is exactly fifty percent, regardless of previous outcomes.”
UsageUsually used in the plural form 'tails' when referring to the side of the coin.
- 04 B2 Upper Intermediate
n.someone who is secretly following another person to watch what they do.
n.a person, often a private investigator or police officer, assigned to follow and observe a subject surreptitiously.
Simple“The spy realized he had a tail and tried to get lost in the crowd.”
In context“The detective suspected that the suspect had spotted his tail, as the man began taking erratic turns through narrow side streets.”
- 05 B2 Upper Intermediate
n.the bright trail of dust and gas that follows a comet in space.
n.the visible stream of gas and dust ejected from a comet's nucleus as it approaches the sun.
Simple“The comet's tail was visible in the night sky for several weeks.”
In context“A comet's tail always points away from the sun due to the pressure of solar radiation and the solar wind.”
- 06 B2 Upper Intermediate
- 07 B2 Upper Intermediate
v.to follow someone closely and secretly to see where they go.
v.to follow and observe a person or vehicle surreptitiously, typically for the purpose of surveillance.
Simple“The police decided to tail the suspect to find out where the money was hidden.”
In context“Undercover agents were instructed to tail the vehicle from a safe distance to avoid detection while documenting every stop the driver made.”
UsageThis is a transitive verb and requires a direct object.
From Middle English tail, tayl, teil, from Old English tæġl (“tail”), from Proto-West Germanic tagl, from Proto-Germanic taglą (“hair, fiber; hair of a tail”), from Proto-Indo-European doḱ- (“hair of the tail”), from Proto-Indo-European deḱ- (“to tear, fray, shred”). Cognate with Scots tail (“tail”), Saterland Frisian Tail (“tail, end”), West Frisian teil (“tail”), Dutch teil (“tail, haulm, blade”), Low German Tagel (“twisted scourge, whip of thongs and ropes; end of a rope”), German Zagel (“tail”), dialectal Danish tavl (“hair of the tail”), Swedish tagel (“hair of the tail, horsehair”), Norwegian tagl (“tail”), Icelandic tagl (“tail, horsetail, ponytail”), Gothic 𐍄𐌰𐌲𐌻 (tagl, “hair”). In some senses, apparently by a generalization of the usual opposition between head and tail.
From Anglo-Norman, probably from a shortened form of entail.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.