tail off

The posterior part of an animal, especially when elongated and extending beyond the trunk or main part of the body.

The bottom, rear, or hindmost part: the tail of a shirt.

The rear end of a wagon or other vehicle.

1. The rear portion of the fuselage of an aircraft.

2. An assembly of stabilizing planes and control surfaces in this rear portion.

3. A formal evening costume typically worn by men.

4. A tailcoat.

5. Slang The buttocks.

6. Vulgar Slang A sexual partner, especially a woman.

The vaned rear portion of a bomb or missile.

An appendage to the rear or bottom of a thing: the tail of a kite.

The long luminous stream of gas and dust forced from the head of a comet when it is close to the sun.

A braid of hair; a pigtail.

Something that follows or takes the last place: the tail of a journey.

A train of followers; a retinue.

The end of a line of persons or things.

The short closing line of certain stanzas of verse.

The refuse or dross remaining from processes such as distilling or milling.

Printing The bottom of a page; the bottom margin.

(used with a sing. verb) The side of a coin not having the principal design and the date. Often used in the plural with a singular verb.

Informal The trail of a person or an animal in flight.

Informal A person assigned or employed to follow and report on someone else's movements and actions: The police put a tail on the suspected drug dealer.

tails

1. A formal evening costume typically worn by men.

2. A tailcoat.

3. Slang The buttocks.

4. Vulgar Slang A sexual partner, especially a woman.

1. Slang The buttocks.

2. Vulgar Slang A sexual partner, especially a woman.

Of or relating to a tail or tails: tail feathers.

Situated in the tail, as of an airplane: a tail gunner.

To provide with a tail: tail a kite.

To deprive of a tail; dock.

To serve as the tail of: The Santa Claus float tailed the parade.

To connect (often dissimilar or incongruous objects) by or as if by the tail or end: tail two ideas together.

Architecture To set one end of (a beam, board, or brick) into a wall.

Informal To follow and keep under surveillance.

To become lengthened or spaced when moving in a line: The patrol tailed out in pairs.

Architecture To be inserted at one end into a wall, as a floor timber or beam.

Informal To follow: tailed after the leader.

Nautical

1. To go aground with the stern foremost.

2. To lie or swing with the stern in a named direction, as when riding at anchor or on a mooring.

Sports To veer from a straight course in the direction of the dominant hand of the player propelling the ball: a pitch that tails away from the batter.