ˈcock-tailed, a.
1. Of horses: Having the tail docked, so that the short stump left sticks up like a cock's tail.
Common in the case of hunters, stage-coach horses, etc., during the latter part of the 18th c. and first part of the 19th.
| 1769 Dublin Mercury 28–31 Oct. 1/3 A pair of beautiful black cock-tailed Geldings. 1789 Mrs. Piozzi Journ. France I. 290 They got an English cock-tailed nag, and set him to the business. 1811 Wellington in Gurw. Disp. VIII. 379 A cock-tailed horse is a good mark for a dragoon if you can get a side view of him. |
2. Having the tail (or hinder part) cocked up.
| 1798 Frere & Canning Loves of Triangles 33 in Anti-Jacobin No. 23 (1852) 110 Six cock-tailed mice transport her to the ball, And liveried lizards wait upon her call. 1840 Barham Ingol. Leg., Mr. Peters's Story, He was such a dear little cock-tail'd pup. 1869 Blackmore Lorna D. iv. (1871) 25 Like a ‘devil's coach-horse’. Note. The cock-tailed beetle has earned this name. |