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Tail vs Thumb - What's the difference?

tail | thumb |

As nouns the difference between tail and thumb

is that tail is while thumb is the short thick digit of the hand that for humans has the most mobility and can be made to oppose (moved to touch) all of the other fingers.

As a verb thumb is

to touch or cover with the thumb.

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

    * ----

    thumb

    English

    (wikipedia thumb) {{picdic , image=Paume de main.jpeg , text=thumb , width=310 , labels= , detail1=Click on labels in the image }}

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The short thick digit of the hand that for humans has the most mobility and can be made to oppose (moved to touch) all of the other fingers.
  • (computing) The part of a slider that may be moved linearly along the slider.
  • (colloquial, Internet) A thumbnail picture.
  • * 2001', "Gary", ''Wanna See Porn? Take a Look At These (Free Expandable '''Thumbs ) - CLICK HERE'' (on newsgroup ''alt.sex.services )

    • Synonyms

    * (digit) pollex, digit I, first digit (anatomy) ; thumby (colloquial)

    Hypernyms

    * (digit) digit, finger

    Hyponyms

    * (digit) opposable thumb

    Derived terms

    (terms derived from the noun) * all fingers and thumbs * all thumbs * brown thumb * green thumb * opposable thumb * rule of thumb * stick out like a sore thumb * thumb a lift * thumb a ride * thumbboard * thumbnail * thumbpad * thumbprint * thumb-sketch or thumb sketch * thumbstick * thumb wrestle * thumbs up * under one's thumb * under the thumb

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To touch or cover with the thumb.
    • to thumb the touch-hole of a cannon
  • To turn the pages of (a book) in order to read it cursorily.
    • I thumbed through the book and decided not to bother reading it all.
  • (travel) To hitchhike
    • So I started thumbin' back east, toward my hometown.
  • To soil or wear with the thumb or the fingers; to soil, or wear out, by frequent handling.
  • * Macaulay
    • He gravely informed the enemy that all his cards had been thumbed to pieces, and begged them to let him have a few more packs.

    Synonyms

    * (to turn pages) browse, leaf, page, peruse

    Derived terms

    (terms derived from the verb) * thumb one's nose * thumb a lift * thumb a ride * well-thumbed