View synonyms for turn tail

turn tail

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Run away, as in When they heard the sirens, the boys turned tail . This term alludes to an animal's turning its back in flight. [Mid-1500s]

Left without guidance a pony tends to edge more or less away from the wind, in order to turn tail to the weather.

Far more would they have been pleased to see the animals turn tail, and make away from them.

It means he is going to turn tail, as I always thought he would,—the cursed cowardly traitor!

We'll not turn tail and run as the lobster backs did; but go out of here like men, if so be we may.

Theyll turn tail, and run a little way off after the crash of the gun inside here and seeing their mate keel over.

April 24, 2024gallimaufry

[gal-uh-maw-free ]

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

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