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Tail vs Say - What's the difference?

tail | say |

As a noun tail

is .

As a proper noun say is

.

tail

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) (m), (m), (m), from (etyl) . In some senses, apparently by a generalization of the usual opposition between head'' and ''tail .

Noun

(en noun)
  • (anatomy) The caudal appendage of an animal that is attached to its posterior and near the anus.
  • Most primates have a tail and fangs.
  • The tail-end of an object, e.g. the rear of an aircraft's fuselage, containing the tailfin.
  • An object or part of an object resembling a tail in shape, such as the thongs on a cat-o'-nine-tails.
  • * (rfdate), Harvey:
  • Doretus writes a great praise of the distilled waters of those tails that hang on willow trees.
  • The rear structure of an aircraft, the empennage.
  • Specifically, the visible stream of dust and gases blown from a comet by the solar wind.
  • The latter part of a time period or event, or (collectively) persons or objects represented in this part.
  • (statistics) The part of a distribution most distant from the mode; as , a long tail.
  • One who surreptitiously follows another.
  • (cricket) The last four or five batsmen in the batting order, usually specialist bowlers.
  • (typography) The lower loop of the letters in the Roman alphabet, as in g'', ''q'' or ''y .
  • (chiefly, in the plural) The side of a coin not bearing the head; normally the side on which the monetary value of the coin is indicated; the reverse.
  • (mathematics) All the last terms of a sequence, from some term on.
  • A sequence (a_n) is said to be ''frequently 0'' if every tail of the sequence contains 0.
  • The buttocks or backside.
  • * 1499 , (John Skelton), The Bowge of Courte :
  • By Goddis sydes, syns I her thyder broughte, / She hath gote me more money with her tayle / Than hath some shyppe that into Bordews sayle.
  • *, I.49:
  • They were wont to wipe their tailes .
  • (slang) The male member of a person or animal.
  • After the burly macho nudists' polar bear dip, their tails''' were spectacularly shrunk, so they looked like an immature kid's innocent '''tail .
  • (slang, uncountable) Sexual intercourse.
  • I'm gonna get me some tail tonight.
  • (kayaking) The stern; the back of the kayak.
  • The back, last, lower, or inferior part of anything.
  • * Bible, Deuteronomy xxviii. 13:
  • The Lord will make thee the head, and not the tail .
  • A train or company of attendants; a retinue.
  • * (rfdate), Walter Scott:
  • "Ah," said he, "if you saw but the chief with his tail on."
  • (anatomy) The distal tendon of a muscle.
  • A downy or feathery appendage of certain achens, formed of the permanent elongated style.
  • (surgery) A portion of an incision, at its beginning or end, which does not go through the whole thickness of the skin, and is more painful than a complete incision; called also tailing.
  • One of the strips at the end of a bandage formed by splitting the bandage one or more times.
  • (nautical) A rope spliced to the strap of a block, by which it may be lashed to anything.
  • (music) The part of a note which runs perpendicularly upward or downward from the head; the stem.
  • (mining) A tailing.
  • (architecture) The bottom or lower portion of a member or part such as a slate or tile.
  • Synonyms

    * ass, poontang, poon, tang, pussy, punani

    Derived terms

    * cat-o'-nine-tails * chase one's tail * coattail * cocktail * have the world by the tail * rattail * shirttail * tailback * tailcoat * tail covert * tail-end * tail feather * tail fin * tailgate * tail lamp * tail light * tail-off * tailpiece * tailpipe * tailplane * tail-race * tail-skid * tailspin * tailstock * tailwheel * tailwind * turn tail * wagtail * whitetail * yellowtail

    See also

    * caudal

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To follow and observe surreptitiously.
  • Tail that car!
  • (architecture) To hold by the end; said of a timber when it rests upon a wall or other support; with in'' or ''into
  • (nautical) To swing with the stern in a certain direction; said of a vessel at anchor.
  • This vessel tails downstream.
  • To follow or hang to, like a tail; to be attached closely to, as that which can not be evaded.
  • * Fuller
  • Nevertheless his bond of two thousand pounds, wherewith he was tailed , continued uncancelled.
  • To pull or draw by the tail.
  • (Hudibras)

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl), probably from a shortened form of entail .

    Adjective

  • (legal) Limited; abridged; reduced; curtailed.
  • estate tail

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (legal) Limitation of inheritance to certain heirs.
  • tail male — limitation to male heirs
    in tail — subject to such a limitation

    Anagrams

    * ----

    say

    English

    (wikipedia say)

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) seyen, seien, seggen, &c., from (etyl) .

    Verb

  • To pronounce.
  • To recite.
  • * , chapter=5
  • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=Then everybody once more knelt, and soon the blessing was pronounced. The choir and the clergy trooped out slowly, […], down the nave to the western door. […] At a seemingly immense distance the surpliced group stopped to say the last prayer.}}
  • To communicate, either verbally or in writing.
  • *
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=4 , passage=No matter how early I came down, I would find him on the veranda, smoking cigarettes, or otherwise his man would be there with a message to say that his master would shortly join me if I would kindly wait.}}
  • * {{quote-book, year=1922, author=(Ben Travers), title=(A Cuckoo in the Nest)
  • , chapter=1 citation , passage=She was like a Beardsley Salome , he had said . And indeed she had the narrow eyes and the high cheekbone of that creature, and as nearly the sinuosity as is compatible with human symmetry. His wooing had been brief but incisive.}}
  • To indicate in a written form.
  • (impersonal) To have a common expression; (used in singular passive voice or plural active voice to indicate a rumor or well-known fact).
  • * 1815 , :
  • They say that Hope is happiness; But genuine Love must prize the past.
  • * 1819 , Great Britain Court of Chancery, Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the High Court of Chancery , page 8:
  • It is said , a bargain cannot be set aside upon inadequacy only.
  • * 1841 , Christopher Marshall, The Knickerbocker (New-York Monthly Magazine) , page 379:
  • It’s said that fifteen wagon loads of ready-made clothes for the Virginia troops came to, and stay in, town to-night.
  • (informal, imperative) Let's say; used to mark an example, supposition or hypothesis.
  • * 1984 , (Martin Amis), Money: a suicide note?
  • I've followed Selina down the strip, when we're shopping, say , and she strolls on ahead, wearing sawn-off jeans and a wash-withered T-shirt
  • To speak; to express an opinion; to make answer; to reply.
  • * (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
  • You have said ; but whether wisely or no, let the forest judge.
  • * (John Milton) (1608-1674)
  • To this argument we shall soon have said ; for what concerns it us to hear a husband divulge his household privacies?
  • .
  • *
  • Synonyms
    * See
    Derived terms
    * dessay * doomsaying * nay-say * saith * sayeth * sayer * saying * there is much to be said * what do you say * you don't say

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • One's stated opinion or input into a discussion or decision.
  • * 2004 , Richard Rogers, Information politics on the Web
  • Above all, however, we would like to think that there is more to be decided, after the engines and after the humans have had their says .

    References

    * *

    Etymology 2

    Grammaticalization of the verb. In the case of the conjunction, it could be considered an elision of "Let's say that" and for the "for example" sense of "Let's say"

    Adverb

    (-)
  • (colloquial) (non-gloss definition, Used to gain one's attention before making an inquiry or suggestion)
  • Say , what did you think about the movie?
  • For example; let us assume.
  • Pick a color you think they'd like, say , peach.
    He was driving pretty fast, say , fifty miles per hour.
    Synonyms
    * (used to gain attention) hey

    Conjunction

    (English Conjunctions)
  • (informal) (Used to introduce a hypothetical)
  • Say your family is starving and you don't have any money, is it ok to steal some food?

    Etymology 3

    From (etyl) saie, from (etyl) saga, plural of .

    Noun

    (-)
  • A type of fine cloth similar to serge.
  • * 1590 , Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene , I.iv:
  • All in a kirtle of discolourd say / He clothed was

    Etymology 4

    Aphetic form of assay.

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To try; to assay.
  • (Ben Jonson)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • Trial by sample; assay; specimen.
  • * Hooker
  • If those principal works of God be but certain tastes and says , as if were, of that final benefit.
  • * Shakespeare
  • Thy tongue some say of breeding breathes.
  • Tried quality; temper; proof.
  • * Spenser
  • He found a sword of better say .
  • Essay; trial; attempt.
  • (Ben Jonson)

    Statistics

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