tail

1. 1.

   go after with the intent to catch

   “The policeman chased the mugger down the alley”

   “the dog chased the rabbit”

   Synonymschasechase aftertrailtaggive chasedoggo aftertrack

   Broaderpursue

   Narrowertreequesthoundrun down
2. 2.

   remove or shorten the tail of an animal

   Synonymsdockbob

   Broadercut
3. 3.

   remove the stalk of fruits or berries

   Broadertop

Other forms of tail

plural

tails·

past tense

tailed·

present participle

tailing·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about tail

What does tail mean?

tail means "the posterior part of the body of a vertebrate especially when elongated and extending beyond the trunk or main part of the body". That is the primary sense; the word has 11 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in tail?

tail has 1 syllable: tail. In IPA it is /ˈteɪl/.

What is another word for tail?

Close synonyms include fag end, tail end, tail end, buttocks, nates. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

What is the opposite of tail?

The recorded antonyms are head.

Is tail a common word?

tail is banded "Common" — everyday vocabulary in speech and writing. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.

What rhymes with tail?

14 words rhyme with tail. Rhymes are matched on the phonemes from the last stressed vowel onward, which is the definition a reader has in their head.