Definition of "fishtail"

fishtail

/ˈfɪʃteɪl/

noun
plural fishtails
1. The tail of a fish, or an object resembling this.
2. The skidding of the back of a vehicle from side to side.
3. A kind of chisel with a flared blade.
4. Short for fishtail palm.
verb
third-person singular simple present fishtails, present participle fishtailing, simple past and past participle fishtailed
1. (intransitive) To swing the back of a vehicle (originally an aircraft) from side to side.
2. (transitive) To cause the back of (a vehicle) to swing from side to side.
  Quotations
  But Bruce wasn't done baiting the jocks. He fishtailed the car; it swerved and reversed direction, heading straight for the three jocks who were chasing them on foot. It looked like he was going to run the car over the three men.
  2013, Jeffrey Bernhardt, The Indian: America's Waking Dream, Berkeley Radicals, War, Riots, Drugs and Revolution
3. (intransitive) To move with the tail swinging from side to side in this way.
  Quotations
  A large black and gold butterfly fish-tailed in and landed on a hydrangea bush almost at my elbow, moved its wings slowly up and down a few times, then took off heavily […]
  1943, Raymond Chandler, The High Window, Penguin, published 2005, page 3
  Having reversed at Eastbourne, I am in the trailing car, which leaps and fishtails around so much on our way to Bexhill that I have trouble writing coherent notes.
  2022 November 16, Paul Bigland, “From rural branches to high-speed arteries”, in RAIL, number 970, page 55

Definition of "fishtail"

fishtail

noun

verb

Quotations

Quotations