Tail vs. Tale

Tail (noun)

The caudal appendage of an animal that is attached to its posterior and near the anus.

“Most primates have a tail and fangs.”

Tail (noun)

An object or part of an object resembling a tail in shape, such as the thongs on a cat-o’-nine-tails.

Tail (noun)

The back, last, lower, or inferior part of anything.

Tail (noun)

The feathers attached to the pygostyle of a bird.

Tail (noun)

The tail-end of an object, e.g. the rear of an aircraft’s fuselage, containing the tailfin.

Tail (noun)

The rear structure of an aircraft, the empennage.

Tail (noun)

The visible stream of dust and gases blown from a comet by the solar wind.

Tail (noun)

The latter part of a time period or event, or (collectively) persons or objects represented in this part.

Tail (noun)

The part of a distribution most distant from the mode; as, a long tail.

Tail (noun)

One who surreptitiously follows another.

Tail (noun)

The last four or five batsmen in the batting order, usually specialist bowlers.

Tail (noun)

The lower loop of the letters in the Roman alphabet, as in g, q or y.

Tail (noun)

The side of a coin not bearing the head; normally the side on which the monetary value of the coin is indicated; the reverse.

Tail (noun)

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 $0$.”

Tail (noun)

The buttocks or backside.

Tail (noun)

The penis of a person or animal.

Tail (noun)

Sexual intercourse.

“I’m gonna get me some tail tonight.”

Tail (noun)

The stern; the back of the kayak.

Tail (noun)

A train or company of attendants; a retinue.

Tail (noun)

The distal tendon of a muscle.

Tail (noun)

A filamentous projection on the tornal section of each hind wing of certain butterflies.

Tail (noun)

A downy or feathery appendage of certain achens, formed of the permanent elongated style.

Tail (noun)

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.

Tail (noun)

One of the strips at the end of a bandage formed by splitting the bandage one or more times.

Tail (noun)

A rope spliced to the strap of a block, by which it may be lashed to anything.

Tail (noun)

The part of a note which runs perpendicularly upward or downward from the head; the stem.

Tail (noun)

A tailing.

Tail (noun)

The bottom or lower portion of a member or part such as a slate or tile.

Tail (noun)

A tailcoat.

Tail (noun)

Limitation of inheritance to certain heirs.

“tail male — limitation to male heirs”

“in tail — subject to such a limitation”

Tail (verb)

To follow and observe surreptitiously.

“Tail that car!”

Tail (verb)

To hold by the end; said of a timber when it rests upon a wall or other support; with in or into

Tail (verb)

To swing with the stern in a certain direction; said of a vessel at anchor.

“This vessel tails downstream.”

Tail (verb)

To follow or hang to, like a tail; to be attached closely to, as that which can not be evaded.

Tail (verb)

To pull or draw by the tail.

Tail (adjective)

Limited; abridged; reduced; curtailed.

“estate tail”

Tale (noun)

An account of an asserted fact or circumstance; a rumour; a report, especially an idle or malicious story; a piece of gossip or slander; a lie.

“Don’t tell tales!”

Tale (noun)

A rehearsal of what has occurred; narrative; discourse; statement; history; story.

“the Canterbury Tales”

Tale (noun)

A number told or counted off; a reckoning by count; an enumeration.

Tale (noun)

The fraudulent opportunity presented by a confidence man to the mark or victim.

Tale (noun)

Number; tally; quota.

Tale (noun)

Account; estimation; regard; heed.

Tale (noun)

Speech; language.

Tale (noun)

A speech; a statement; talk; conversation; discourse.

Tale (noun)

A count; declaration.

Tale (noun)

A number of things considered as an aggregate; sum.

Tale (noun)

A report of any matter; a relation; a version.

Tale (verb)

To speak; discourse; tell tales.

Tale (verb)

To reckon; consider (someone) to have something.

Tail (noun)

the hindmost part of an animal, especially when prolonged beyond the rest of the body, such as the flexible extension of the backbone in a vertebrate, the feathers at the hind end of a bird, or a terminal appendage in an insect

“the dog’s tail began to wag frantically”

Tail (noun)

a slender backward prolongation of each hindwing in some butterflies.

Tail (noun)

a thing resembling an animal’s tail in its shape or position, typically extending downwards or outwards at the end of something

“the tail of a capital Q”

Tail (noun)

the rear part of an aeroplane, with the tailplane and rudder

“the fuselage tapers sharply towards the tail”

Tail (noun)

the lower or hanging part of a garment, especially the back of a shirt or coat

“he stormed off, the tails of his jacket flapping behind him”

“he wiped his hands on the tail of his grubby vest”

Tail (noun)

a tailcoat, or a man’s formal evening suit with a tailcoat

“the men looked debonair in white tie and tails”

Tail (noun)

the luminous trail of particles following a comet.

Tail (noun)

the lower end of a pool or stream

“shallow riffles and the tails of pools are prime feeding areas”

Tail (noun)

the exposed end of a slate or tile in a roof

“the slates are dressed with the bevelled tail and edge characteristic of thick, square stone roofing”

Tail (noun)

an extremity of a curve approaching the horizontal axis of a graph, especially that of a frequency distribution.

Tail (noun)

the end of a long train or line of people or vehicles

“a catering truck at the tail of the convoy”

Tail (noun)

the final, more distant, or weaker part of something

“the tail of a hurricane”

Tail (noun)

the end of the batting order, with the weakest batsmen

“McDermott worked his way through the tail, finishing with ten wickets”

Tail (noun)

a person secretly following another to observe their movements

“I can’t put a tail on him, I don’t know where he’s gone”

Tail (noun)

a person’s buttocks

“the coach kicked Ryan in his tail”

Tail (noun)

a woman’s genitals.

Tail (noun)

women collectively regarded in sexual terms

“I was getting worried that both of us would be chasing tail and getting into trouble for the rest of our lives”

Tail (noun)

the side of a coin without the image of a head on it (used when tossing a coin to determine a winner)

“the chances of heads and tails in the long run are equal”

Tail (noun)

limitation of ownership, especially of an estate or title limited to a person and their direct descendants

“the land was held in tail general”

Tail (verb)

follow and observe (someone) closely, especially in secret

“a flock of paparazzi had tailed them all over London”

Tail (verb)

follow

“they went to their favourite cafe—Owen and Sally tailed along”

Tail (verb)

(of an object in flight) drift or curve in a particular direction

“the next pitch tailed in on me at the last second”

Tail (verb)

remove the stalks or ends of (fruit or vegetables) in preparation for cooking.

Tail (verb)

pull on the end of (a rope) after it has been wrapped round the drum of a winch a few times, in order to prevent slipping when the winch rotates.

Tail (verb)

join (one thing) to another.

Tail (verb)

provide with a tail

“her calligraphy was topped by banners of black ink and tailed like the haunches of fabulous beasts”

Tale (noun)

a fictitious or true narrative or story, especially one that is imaginatively recounted

“she enjoyed hearing others tell their tales”

“a delightful children’s tale”

“tales of witches and warlocks”

Tale (noun)

a lie.

Tale (noun)

a number or total

“an exact tale of the dead bodies”