tails

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
tail1

▶noun

• 1 the hindmost part of an animal, especially when extended beyond the rest of the body, such as the flexible extension of the backbone in a vertebrate or the feathers at the hind end of a bird.

• 2 something extending downwards, outwards, or back like an animal's tail.

  ■ the rear part of an aircraft, with the tailplane and rudder.

  ■ the luminous trail of particles following a comet.

• 3 the final, more distant, or weaker part: the tail of a hurricane.

  ■ Cricket the end of the batting order, with the weakest batsmen.

• 4 the lower or hanging part at the back of a shirt or coat.

  ■ (tails) informal a tailcoat, or a man's formal evening suit with such a coat.

• 5 (tails) the side of a coin without the image of a head on it (used when tossing a coin to determine a winner).

• 6 informal a person secretly following another to observe their movements.

• 7 informal, chiefly N. Amer. a person's buttocks.

  ■ vulgar slang a woman's genitals.

  ■ informal women collectively regarded as a means of sexual gratification.

▶verb

• 1 informal secretly follow and observe (someone).

• 2 (tail off/away) gradually diminish in amount or intensity.

  ■ (tail back) Brit. (of traffic) become congested and form a tailback.

• 3 N. Amer. (of an object in flight) drift or curve in a particular direction.

• 4 (tail something in/into) insert the end of a beam, stone, or brick into (a wall).

• 5 archaic join (one thing) to another.

– phrases
on someone's tail informal following someone closely.
with one's tail between one's legs informal in a state of dejection or humiliation.

– derivatives
tailed adjective,
tailless adjective.

– origin OE tæg(e)l, from a Gmc base meaning ‘hair, hairy tail’.

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
tail2

▶noun Law, chiefly historical limitation of ownership, especially of an estate or title limited to a person and their direct descendants.

– origin ME (denoting a tallage): from OFr. taille ‘notch, tax’, from taillier ‘to cut’.