Bangtail
noun, verb, slang ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
- 1 The tail of a horse or cow, allowed to grow out and then trimmed horizontally so as to form a tassel; a horse or cow having such a tail.
"1851, Turning Out a Bagman: A Legend of Brighton Downs, in Charles Dickens, William Harrison Ainsworth, Albert Smith Bentley's Miscellany, Volume XXIX, page 259, Two lean, ewe-necked, clipt chestnuts, tucked up in the ribs, with hard work and bad feeding, but with such flowing bang-tails as at once stamped them in the eyes of our friends as “ out-and-out ” thorough-breds—were led up and down by John. […] The bang-tails, no doubt, supposing themselves out for their usual “airing,” put themselves in the regular side-long position, and struck at once into a sort of hectic canter ; a particular movement, peculiar to Brighton bang-tails, and adapted to the most innocent equestrian."
- 2 a horse bred for racing wordnet
- 3 A racehorse. US
"“Eddie!” whinnied Daley, the distraught worshipper of the bang-tails. “Eddie! Phar Lap is dead!”"
- 4 A prostitute. slang
- 5 An envelope with a perforated flap on which promotional material is printed; the flap on such an envelope.
- 1 To shear off the hair horizontally at the end of a cow or horse's tail.
Example
More examples"1851, Turning Out a Bagman: A Legend of Brighton Downs, in Charles Dickens, William Harrison Ainsworth, Albert Smith Bentley's Miscellany, Volume XXIX, page 259, Two lean, ewe-necked, clipt chestnuts, tucked up in the ribs, with hard work and bad feeding, but with such flowing bang-tails as at once stamped them in the eyes of our friends as “ out-and-out ” thorough-breds—were led up and down by John. […] The bang-tails, no doubt, supposing themselves out for their usual “airing,” put themselves in the regular side-long position, and struck at once into a sort of hectic canter ; a particular movement, peculiar to Brighton bang-tails, and adapted to the most innocent equestrian."
Etymology
From bang + tail. The primary meaning refers to the sense bang (“fringe of hair cut across the forehead”).
Related phrases
More for "bangtail"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.