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tail fin

 Origin

tail fin

 
noun
1.
caudal fin.
2.
Automotive. See under fin1 (def. 7).
Origin:
1675–85

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Tail fin is always a great word to know.
So is gobo. Does it mean:
a chattering or flighty, light-headed person.
a screen or mat covered with a dark material for shielding a camera lens from excess light or glare.
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Dictionary.com Unabridged

fin

1   [fin] noun, verb, finned, fin·ning.
noun
1.
a membranous, winglike or paddlelike organ attached to any of various parts of the body of fishes and certain other aquatic animals, used for propulsion, steering, or balancing.
2.
Nautical.
a.
a horizontal, often adjustable, winglike appendage to the underwater portion of a hull, as one for controlling the dive of a submarine or for damping the roll of a surface vessel.
b.
fin keel.
3.
Also called vertical stabilizer. Aeronautics. any of certain small, subsidiary structures on an aircraft, designed to increase directional stability.
4.
any of a number of standing ridges on an ordinarily hot object, as a radiator, a cylinder of an internal-combustion engine, etc., intended to maximize heat transfer to the surrounding air by exposing a large surface area.
5.
any part, as of a mechanism, resembling a fin.
EXPAND
6.
Metallurgy. a ridge of metal squeezed through the opening between two rolls, dies, or halves of a mold in which a piece is being formed under pressure. Compare flash (def. 11).
7.
Automotive. an ornamental structure resembling an aeronautical fin that is attached to the body of an automobile, as on each rear fender (tail fin).
8.
Slang. the arm or hand.
9.
Usually, fins. flipper (def. 2).
COLLAPSE
verb (used with object)
10.
to cut off the fins from (a fish); carve or cut up, as a chub.
11.
to provide or equip with a fin or fins.
verb (used without object)
12.
to move the fins; lash the water with the fins, as a whale when dying.
Origin:
before 1000; Middle English, Old English finn; cognate with Dutch vin, Low German finne; akin to Swedish fena

Related forms
fin·less, adjective
fin·like, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
Cite This Source Link To tail fin
Etymonline
Word Origin & History

fin
O.E. fin, from P.Gmc. *finno (cf. M.L.G. vinne, Du. vin), perhaps from L. pinna "feather, wing," or, less likely, from L. spina "thorn, spine" (see spike (n.1)). U.S. underworld slang sense of "$5 bill" is 1925, from Yiddish finif "five," from Ger. fünf. The same word
EXPAND
had been used in England 1868 to mean "five pound note" (earlier finnip, 1839).
COLLAPSE
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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American Heritage
Science Dictionary
fin   (fĭn)  Pronunciation Key 
One of the winglike or paddlelike parts of a fish, dolphin, or whale that are used for propelling, steering, and balancing in water.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2002. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.
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Slang Dictionary

fin definition

[fɪn]
and finn
  1. n.
    a five-dollar bill. (Germanic via Yiddish. As in German funf = five.) : I gave the old guy a finn, and he nearly passed out.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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