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Fishtail

//ˈfɪʃteɪl// noun, verb

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The tail of a fish, or an object resembling this.
  2. 2
    The skidding of the back of a vehicle from side to side.
  3. 3
    A kind of chisel with a flared blade.
  4. 4
    Ellipsis of fishtail palm. abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis
Verb
  1. 1
    To swing the back of a vehicle (originally an aircraft) from side to side. intransitive

    "As we approached the runway, the pilot fishtailed slightly to reduce landing speed."

  2. 2
    slow down by moving the tail sideways wordnet
  3. 3
    To cause the back of (a vehicle) to swing from side to side. transitive

    "But Bruce wasn't done baiting the jocks. He fishtailed the car; it swerved and reversed direction, heading straight for the three jocks who were chasing them on foot. It looked like he was going to run the car over the three men."

  4. 4
    To move with the tail swinging from side to side in this way. intransitive

    "A large black and gold butterfly fish-tailed in and landed on a hydrangea bush almost at my elbow, moved its wings slowly up and down a few times, then took off heavily […]"

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English fisch tayle, equivalent to fish + tail.

Etymology 2

From Middle English fisch tayle, equivalent to fish + tail.

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