Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun Same as
rat-tail . - noun A slender rib or tongue tapering to a point, used to reinforce or stiffen a bar, plate, or the like, as on the back of a silver spoon.
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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Rail-thin, he often appeared with a thick pompadour, rat's-tail moustache and open shirt—the personification of a gigolo at a cheap resort.
Brilliant, Shook-Up Guy Marc Myers 2011
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I show her to Home Baking where two lads with rat's-tail haircuts are having atrolley fight.
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Upon close inspection it proved to be a highly crystallised rat's-tail, from which the geologist inferred that there were rats on the Kensington-road at a much earlier period than milestones.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 1, October 2, 1841 Various
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This is commenced, like the others, by placing the rope end to end, the turns of the one being passed between those of the other; having first swelled out the yarns by a "rat's-tail," we put them, two by two, one over the other, twisting them tightly, and opening a way for them with the marlinspike.
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No taste, no arrangement, paltry looking-glasses, and rat's-tail candles.
Dreams Waking Thoughts and Incidents Beckford, William 1891
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"Now then, Ram-stam and Chok-foo," said Edgar Berrington, putting down his spoon, "clear away the rat's-tail soup, and bring on the roast puppy."
Under the Waves Diving in Deep Waters Francis B. Pearson 1859
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No taste, no arrangement, paltry looking-glasses, and rat's-tail candles.
Dreams, Waking Thoughts, and Incidents William Beckford 1801
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Spurs' Benoît Assou-Ekotto or Stoke's Kenwyne Jones; Sunderland's Kieran Richardson's god-awful rat's-tail.
The Guardian World News Pete Cashmore 2011
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Spurs' Benoît Assou-Ekotto or Stoke's Kenwyne Jones; Sunderland's Kieran Richardson's god-awful rat's-tail.
The Guardian World News Pete Cashmore 2011
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