Meaning: tail

Illustrative Context

The dog wagged its tail.

Target Sense

• The most generic noun for a tail as a part of the body of an animal.
• The lexeme entered must be the default lexeme in the basic vocabulary that would be used in the prototypical case of a flexible tail, and applicable to the various tail types of at least several different types of animal, typically including most quadruped mammals (e.g. dogs, cats, cows, horses, mice) and reptiles (e.g. lizards), birds and (usually) fish.
• Enter the generic term for the tail as a whole, as a body part. Avoid narrower terms for specific types, forms, sizes or parts of a tail.
• Follow common usage and basic vocabulary. Strict technical and biological classification criteria are not necessarily relevant — on this, see also the definitions for the separate IE-CoR meanings wing, snake and ant. So the exact range of application of the basic lexeme (to different animal species) does not necessarily matter, provided that it is the default lexeme for at least most of the prototypical cases listed above. Do not, however, enter any additional lexeme that is specific to any narrower uses than the default lexeme.
• The target sense is the literal body part of an animal. Do not enter any additional lexemes that predominantly or exclusively refer to figurative extensions of the lexeme tail in English, i.e. any different lexemes for the ‘tail’ of an aircraft, a coat or other garment,a form of hairstyle (e.g. ponytail, pigtail), or any thin appendage or end part.