1563. Langland, Piers Plowman (C), iii. 196. Ich haue no tome to telle the tail that hem folweth.
1633. Jonson, Tale of a Tub, ii. 1. Why should her worship lack Her tail of maids, more than you do of men?
1814. Scott, Waverley, xvi. 'Ah! . . . if you . . . saw but the Chief with his tail on!' 'With his tail on?' echoed Edward. . . . 'Yes—that is, with all his usual followers, when he visits those of the same rank.'
d.1845. Hood, Tale of a Trumpet. Ay, now's the nick for her friend Old Harry To come with his tail like the bold Glengarry.
9. (Old Cant).—A sword (B. E. and Grose); tail-drawer = 'a sword stealer' (B. E.).
10 (cricket).—The last two or three men in a batting eleven to go to the wickets.
Verb. (Australian).—To tend sheep; to herd cattle.
1844. Port Phillip Patriot, 5 Aug. 3, 6. I know many boys, from the age of nine to sixteen years, tailing cattle.
1855. Mundy, Our Antipodes, 153. The stockman, as he who tends cattle and horses is called, despises the shepherd as a grovelling, inferior creature, and considers 'tailing sheep' as an employment too tardigrade for a man of action and spirit.
1890. Boldrewood, Colonial Reformer, xix. 239. The cattle, no longer 'tailed,' or followed daily, as a shepherd does sheep.
Phrases and Combinations. Tail of the eye = the outer corner of the eye; cow's-tail (nautical) = a frayed rope's-end, one not properly knotted: hence hanging in cow's tails (said of a badly kept ship); tail-end = the latter part, the wind-up; with one's tail between one's legs = cowed, humiliated, conscious of defeat: also with tail down; with tail up = in good form or spirits; with tail out = angry; with tail in the water = thriving; to flee the tail = to near the end; to twist the lion's tail = to gird at England (or the English people); to cast (lay or throw) salt on the tail (see salt, and add special quots. infra—Grose).
1670. Ray, Proverbs [Bohn], 427. It is a foolish bird that stayeth the laying salt upon her tail.
1838. Beckett, Paradise Lost, 66. Or catching birds, which never fails, If you put salt upon their tails.
1859. Reade, Love Me Little, xiv. Miss Lucy noticed this out of the tail of her eye.
1894. Baker, New Timothy, 264. Tzed and Toad come, and very much as if with their tails between their legs.
1899. Whiteing, John Street, vii. Covey stands at the street corner with his hands in his pockets, and observes out of the tail of his eye.
Also proverbs and proverbial sayings: 'The devil wipes his tail with the poor man's pride' (Ray); 'betweene two stools my taile goes to the ground' (Heywood); 'To make a rod for one's own tail' (Heywood); 'Like lambs, you do nothing but suck and wag your tails'; 'She goes as if she cracked nuts with her tail'; 'To look like a dog that has lost its tail'; 'She's like a cat, she'll play with her own tail'; 'Make not thy tail broader than thy wings' (= Keep not too many attendants); 'His tail will catch the chin-cough' (said of one sitting on the ground); 'As hasty as a sheep, as soon as the tail is up the turd is out'; 'As free as an ape is of his tail'; 'He that aught the cow gangs nearest her tail'; 'He holds the serpent by the tail.'
