longtail
See also: long tail
English edit
Etymology edit
Noun edit
longtail (plural longtails)
- Any animal that has an unusually long tail relative to similar species.
- (Bermuda) Phaethon lepturus, the white-tailed tropicbird.
- (Bermuda, by extension) A young, unattached female tourist.
- A longtail boat.
- (colloquial, Isle of Man) A rat.
- (slang) A pheasant.
- (slang) A greyhound.
Usage notes edit
The Manx colloquial usage derives from a relatively modern superstition that it is considered bad luck to use the word "rat".
Derived terms edit
- cricket longtail
- cut and longtail
- green longtail
- longtail boat
- longtail butterfly ray
- longtail cast-on
- longtail catfish
- longtail salamander
- longtail skate
- longtail stingray
References edit
- (pheasant; greyhound): John Camden Hotten (1873) The Slang Dictionary