bob-tail
[f. bob n.1 + tail.]
A. Properly two words (ˈbɒb ˈteɪl): The tail (of a horse) cut short.
| [Must be earlier than 1577: when the vb. occurs.] 1667 Lond. Gaz. No. 211/4 A fine light Bay Stone-horse..with his Mayne shorn, and a bob tail. 1720 Ibid. No. 5818/4 A brown Nag..with a Bob Tail. |
B. attrib. (
ˈbɒbteɪl). Having a bob tail.
bobtail car U.S. (see
quot. 1888);
bobtail discharge U.S. (see
quot.);
bobtail plough (see
quot. 1743).
| 1605 Shakes. Lear iii. vi. 73 Hound or Spaniell, Brache, or Lym: Or Bobtaile tight [tike] or Troudle [Qq. trundle] taile. 1829 Marryat F. Mildmay xxiii, The bob-tail Cur. 1848 Lowell Biglow P. i, Trainin' round in bobtail coats. |
| 1875 Chicago Tribune 8 Sept. 8/2 The bobtail cars ought to be taken off the streets right away, or conductors put on them. 1883 Philadelph. Even. Star 13 Feb. 3/4 Bob-tail Courtesies..The old familiar bob-tail cars. 1888 Farmer Americanisms, Bobtail car, the popular name for a small tram-car horsed by a single animal, and on which the only official is a driver, whose office it is to collect fares and generally perform the duties of conductor in addition to his own. |
| 1886 Outing (U.S.) Dec. 227/2 Upon the expiration of his first enlistment, he was given what is called a bobtail discharge, a discharge without character. |
| 1733 Ellis Chiltern & Vale Farm. xxxviii. 319 Either the Swing, Bobtail, or Foot Plough. 1743 ― Mod. Husb. May i. 6 The Creeper or Bobtail Plough, is a two-Wheel Plough, differing but very little from the Fallow Wheel Plough. |
C. n. (
ˈbɒbteɪl).
1. a. A horse or dog with its tail cut short.
| 1676 Lond. Gaz. No. 1115/4 A white Mare, and a black Nag..both Bob-tails. a 1843 Southey Ep. A. Cunningham Wks. III. 309 Mongrel and cur and bob-tail, let them yelp. |
† b. A kind of arrow: see
quot.| 1544 R. Ascham Toxoph. (Arb.) 126 Those that be lytle brested and big toward the hede called by theyr lykenesse taper fashion..and of some merrye fellowes bobtayles. |
c. = bobtail discharge.
U.S.| 1915 Recruiters' Bulletin (U.S.) June 8/1 (title) Bobtails. 1926 R. A. Bennet Boss of Diamond A viii. 72 My discharge is in that trunk of mine. I'll show you it's no bobtail! 1937 Amer. Speech XII. 75/1 Bobtail, (yellow-colored) dishonorable discharge. |
† 2. transf. A contemptible fellow, a cur.
Obs.| 1619 Fletcher M. Thomas ii. ii. 390 I'le not be bob'd i' th' nose with every bobtail. |
† 3. (See
quot.)
Obs.| 1583 Higins Junius' Nomenclator 533 (D.) Cousins by mariage, or kinred (as they commonly terme it) by bobtaile. |
4. collectively. [Perh. referring to 2 and 3.]
tag-rag and bob-tail, or
tag, rag, and bob-tail: the common herd, the rabble. Also
pl. See
tag.
| 1659–60 Pepys Diary 6 Mar., The dining-room..was full of tag, rag, and bobtail, dancing, singing, and drinking. 1785 Wolcott (P. Pindar) Ode to R. A's ii. Wks. 1812 I. 80 Tagrags and Bobtails of the sacred Brush. 1800 Colquhoun Comm. Thames ii. 75 That lowest class of the community who are vulgarly denominated the Tag-Rag and Bobtail. c 1817 Hogg Tales & Sk. V. 255 The tag-rag and bob-tail part of the citizens of Edinburgh. 1820 Byron Blues ii. 23 The rag, tag, and bobtail of those they call ‘Blues’. 1840 Dickens Barn. Rudge xxxv, ‘We don't take in no tagrag and bobtail at our house.’ 1926 J. Black You can't Win xiii. 180 She poured liquor into the bums, beggars, ragtags and bobtails that hung around the saloons. |
5. In full
bobtail flush,
bob-tail straight. A four-card flush or straight in the game of poker.
U.S.| 1875 Cincinnati Enquirer 2 July 2/3 The gentlemen..can not ‘bluff’ to any success on their ‘bob-tail flush’. 1887 Courier Jrnl. 20 Jan. 4/1 The Confederates would..bet away the Washington monument on a ‘bob-tail flush’. 1901 R. F. Foster Poker 26 The value of the ‘bobtail’, as a four-card flush is called, is nothing unless it can be improved in the draw. |