Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The tail assembly of an aircraft, including the horizontal and vertical stabilizers, elevators, and rudder.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The tail assembly of an aircraft.
  • noun The feathers of an arrow or the tail fins of a bomb or rocket used to stabilize the longitudinal axis of the projectile parallel to the flight path.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the rear part of an aircraft

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[French, feathers on an arrow, empennage, from empenner, to feather an arrow : en-, in; see en– + penne, feather (from Latin penna; see pet- in Indo-European roots).]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From French, feathers of an arrow

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Examples

  • As I neared the giant empennage, I glanced to my left at the last second.

    A Nightmare’s Prayer Michael Franzak 2010

  • Yet it is a sleek affair, with wings that are large relative to its fuselage and a tail section or empennage that sticks out behind in two sections, carrying stabilizers angled vertically in a V.

    The Nature of Technology W. Brain Arthur 2009

  • He pushes them in sequence, checking and rechecking each step and feeling the change in the tail structure as the twin-boomed empennage begins to rise to a nearly eighty-degree upward deflection.

    Orbit John J. Nance 2006

  • He pushes them in sequence, checking and rechecking each step and feeling the change in the tail structure as the twin-boomed empennage begins to rise to a nearly eighty-degree upward deflection.

    Orbit John J. Nance 2006

  • No marks of wing or empennage, or engine impact anywhere, not to mention a paucity of wreckage, bodies and etc.

    OK CLASS, LETS REVIEW!, WHERE'S THE 757! 2006

  • She moved gingerly, trying to get her bearings, and realized she was sitting on the rear empennage of the ship.

    Mosaic Jeri Taylor 1996

  • She moved gingerly, trying to get her bearings, and realized she was sitting on the rear empennage of the ship.

    Star Trek Voyager Mosaic Jeri Taylor 1996

  • She moved gingerly, trying to get her bearings, and realized she was sitting on the rear empennage of the ship.

    Star Trek Voyager Mosaic Jeri Taylor 1996

  • If the hook can be strengthened, especially where it joins the empennage, I believe the plane will give a good account of itself.

    Space Michener, James 1982

  • A few seconds before, Larry had recognized what it was: a piece from the empennage.

    Division 3 Mahr, Kurt 1976

Comments

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  • Aunt Mildred affected a bustle

    So haste was a terrible tussle.

    She needed a nudge

    In the empennage

    Whenever required to hustle.

    November 4, 2015