rattail

Meanings

1. Any of the large dark-colored deep-sea fish of the Macrouridae family of ray-finned fish.
2. A fish, a California chimera (Hydrolagus colliei, syn. Chimaera colliei).
3. A hairstyle characterized by a long lock of tail-like hair dangling from the back of the head; the dangling lock itself.
4. A type of file (cutting tool) with a round cross section and usually also a taper toward the distal end.
5. 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.
6. An excrescence growing from the pastern to the middle of the shank of a horse.
7. The flowering plant Stachytarpheta cayennensis.

Etymology

From rat + tail: all of the nonliteral senses come from something else's fancied resemblance to the tail of a rat.

Translations