fantail

English

A fantail, Rhipidura leucophrys.

A silver-barred fantail pigeon.

A fantail goldfish.

Fantail (on the left) of the RMS Titanic (4)

Etymology

fan +‎ tail

Noun

fantail (plural fantails)

1. Any of several birds, of the genus Rhipidura, from Asia, Australia and New Zealand.
2. Any of several domestic varieties of pigeon having a fan-shaped tail.
3. Any of several goldfish having a large fan-shaped tail.
4. (nautical) An overhanging deck at the stern of a ship.
   • 1966, Thomas Pynchon, chapter 3, in The Crying of Lot 49, New York: Bantam Books, published 1976, →ISBN, page 38:

     The Paranoids cast off, backed the Godzilla II out from the pier, turned and with a concerted whoop took off like a bat out of hell, nearly sending Di Presso over the fantail.

5. A small windmill mounted at right angles to the sails, at the rear of the windmill, used to turn the cap automatically to bring it into the wind.
6. A brimmed hat with just the back of the brim turned up.

Derived terms

• Arafura fantail
• rufous-backed fantail
• streaked fantail warbler

 

Translations

bird of the genus Rhipidura

• Catalan: cua de ventall f
• Finnish: viuhkamonarkki
• German: Fächerschwänze m

Further reading

• Fantail (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Rhipidura on Wikispecies.Wikispecies
• Columba livia on Wikispecies.Wikispecies
• Carassius auratus on Wikispecies.Wikispecies

Anagrams

• tailfan

Scottish Gaelic

Noun

fantail f

1. verbal noun of fan