Rattail

Quick meaning: Rattail is a noun meaning Any of the large dark-colored deep-sea fish of the Macrouridae family of ray-finned fish.

Meaning

Any of the large dark-colored deep-sea fish of the Macrouridae family of ray-finned fish.

More Meanings

1. A fish, a California chimera (Hydrolagus colliei, syn. Chimaera colliei).
2. A hairstyle characterized by a long lock of tail-like hair dangling from the back of the head; the dangling lock itself.
3. A type of file (cutting tool) with a round cross section and usually also a taper toward the distal end.
4. An excrescence growing from the pastern to the middle of the shank of a horse.
5. The flowering plant Stachytarpheta cayennensis.
6. (slang) A towel that has been tightly twisted along the diagonal to make a rudimentary whip with a towel corner at the tip, typically used in juvenile pranks.

Example Sentences

In the North Atlantic, Russians pioneered the harvesting of rattails, a ubiquitous deep fish with big eyes and a long tail that swishes back and forth in a sinuous motion.

All of which could explain why, when I had my hair styled in a tight ponytail for the shoot accompanying this feature, most people who saw me thought I looked "unapproachable" (which might simply be a polite way of saying: "You looked like you had a rattail and a Croydon facelift").

Word Forms

• rattails
• rat-tail

Synonyms for rattail

Depending on context, synonyms include grenadier, macrourid, whiptail.

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include grenadier, comb, rat-tail, macrourid, hairtail, blacktail.

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