[koht-teyl] 
| 1. | the back of the skirt on a man's coat or jacket. |
| 2. | one of the two back parts of the skirt of a coat, esp. one of the tails on a tail coat. |
| 3. | gained by association with another, esp. with a successful or celebrated person: coattail benefits. |
| 4. | on someone's coattails, aided by association with another person: The senator rode into office on the President's coattails. |
| 5. | on the coattails of, immediately after or as a result of: His decline in popularity followed on the coattails of the scandal. |
on someone's coattails
Also, on the coattails of. Owing to another person's popularity or merits. For example, He won the cabinet post by hanging on the senator's coattails, or He was elected to office on the coattails of the governor. This expression, with its graphic image, dates from the mid-1800s, when coats with tails were in fashion.
