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tail fin

 - 7 dictionary results

tail fin

 
Use tail fin in a Sentence
–noun
1. caudal fin.
2. Automotive. See under fin 1 (def. 7).
Origin:
1675–85

caudal fin

 
–noun
the terminal vertical fin of a fish.
Also called tail fin.

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.
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).
–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:
bef. 1000; ME, OE finn; c. D vin, LG finne; akin to Sw fena

Related forms:
finless, adjective
finlike, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To tail fin
tail fin also tail·fin   (tāl'fĭn')
n.  

  1. A fin at the posterior part of the body of a fish, crustacean, whale, or other aquatic animal.

  2. An ornamental projection shaped like a fin on the rear fender of an automobile. Also called fin1.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Slang Dictionary
fin [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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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 had been used in England 1868 to mean "five pound note" (earlier finnip, 1839).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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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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