tail — OET · Shobdo

tail

noun

1 the dog's tail began to wag frantically:

hindmost part, back end, appendage;

brush, scut, dock;

tailpiece, tail feathers;

hind part, hindquarters;

technical cauda, uropygium.

▷antonyms front, head.

2 new items are added on to the tail of the queue:

rear, end, back, extremity, conclusion;

bottom, lowest part;

British, informal fag end.

▷antonyms head, front.

3 the tail of the hunting season:

close, end, conclusion, termination, tail end.

▷antonyms beginning, start.

4 informal I can't put a tail on him, I don't know where he's gone:

detective, investigator, private investigator, shadow;

informal sleuth, private eye, tec;

North American, informal gumshoe, bogey, dick, private dick, shamus.

5 North American, informal the coach kicked Ryan in his tail:

buttocks, backside, behind, bottom, seat, rump, rear, rear end;

cheeks, hindquarters, haunches;

French derrière;

German Sitzfleisch;

technical nates;

informal sit-upon, stern, BTM, tochus, rusty dusty;

British, informal bum, botty, prat, jacksie;

Scottish, informal bahookie;

North American, informal butt, fanny, tush, tushie, duff, buns, booty, caboose, heinie, patootie, keister, tuchis, bazoo, bippy;

West Indian, informal batty, rass;

humorous fundament, posterior;

British, vulgar slang arse, clunge;

North American, vulgar slang ass;

archaic breech.

□ on someone's tail

a police car stayed on his tail for half a mile:

close behind someone, following someone closely, (hard) on someone's heels, tailing someone.

verb

informal

a flock of paparazzi had tailed them all over London:

follow, shadow, stalk, trail, track, hunt, hound, dog, trace, pursue, chase, give chase to, run after, keep under surveillance.

□ tail back

traffic tailed back fourteen miles:

become congested, form a tailback, jam.

□ tail off (also tail away)

the old lady's voice tailed off:

fade, wane, ebb, dwindle, decrease, lessen, get less, diminish, decline, subside, abate, drop off, drop away, fall away, peter out, taper off;

let up, ease off, die away, die out, die down, go into decline, waste away, recede, relent, desist, weaken, come to an end.

▷antonyms increase, get more intense.

word links	tail
caudal, cercal relating to a tail

tail (1) Oxford Dictionary of English