ˈring-tailed, a.
[Cf. prec.]
1. Ornith. (See ring-tail 1, 1 b, and 1 c.)
| 1725 H. Sloane Nat. Hist. Jamaica II. 302 The Ring-Tail'd Pigeon. 1809 Shaw Gen. Zool. VII. i. 71 Ring-tailed Eagle. 1815 Sporting Mag. XLV. 96 A very superb ring-tailed eagle was shot. 1840 Macgillivray Brit. Birds III. 366 Circus Cyaneus, the Ring-Tailed Harrier. 1893 Newton Dict. Birds i. 177 In the young the tail is white at the base, whence in this stage it has been often called the Ring-tailed Eagle. |
2. Zool. Having the tail ringed with alternating colours. (Cf. ringtail 2.)
| 1729 Dampier's Voyages III. 423 The Ring-tail'd Snake. 1785 Smellie Buffon's Nat. Hist. (1791) VII. 224 The mococo, or maucauco, commonly known by the name of the ring-tailed maki. 1840 Cuvier's Anim. Kingd. 63 The Macaco of Buffon, or the Ring-tailed Lemur (L. catta, Lin.), which is ash-grey, the tail annulated black and white. 1877 Nature XV. 286/1 Two Ring-tailed Lemurs (Lemur catta) from Madagascar, purchased. |
3. Zool. Having the tail curled at the end, spec. applied to certain phalangers. Cf. ringtail, ring-tail 4.
| 1835 Penny Cycl. III. 128/1 These animals [phalangers], called ring-tailed opossums by the colonists. 1847 Leichhardt Jrnl. v. 46 The Black-fellows told us, that they had caught a ring-tailed opossum. 1885 Encycl. Brit. XVIII. 728/2 There are about four species of this genus known, of which the commonest is Cook's Ring-tailed Phalanger. 1894 R. B. Lee Hist. & Descr. Mod. Dogs (Non-Sporting Division) ix. 239 The tail should be..not curved upwards at the end, called ‘ring tailed’. |
4. ring-tailed roarer, a fanciful name for an imaginary animal; also applied to persons. Similarly in other fanciful collocations, applied to persons and things, as ring-tailed snorter, ring-tailed squealer, etc. U.S.
| 1830 Painesville (Ohio) Tel. 15 June 1/5 Ringtailed Roarers, a most violent fellow, a Crockett. 1836 Crockett's Yaller Flower Almanac 9, I am a raal ringtailed roarer. 1837 R. M. Bird Nick of Woods I. iii. 56 Stranger, my name's Ralph Stackpole, and I'm a ring-tailed squealer! 1854 P. B. St. John Amy Moss 268 ‘By the rasping ring-tailed roarer of Kentucky, that's good,’ said Ezram. 1872 Schele de Vere Americanisms 224 A specially fine fellow of great size and strength is called a ring-tailed roarer. 1944 B. A. Botkin Treas. Amer. Folklore i. 175 The ring-tailed roarer is a comic version of the frontiersman who wrestles single-handed with the wilderness. 1947 Chicago Tribune 2 Nov. iv. 9/2 The ‘ring-tailed Roarers’ of the pioneer days shout their raucous delight, unsubtle, earthy, outlandish, direct. 1950 Ithaca (N.Y.) Jrnl. 1 Aug. 6/2 You'll have to hand it to this..secretary of agriculture... He's a ring⁓tailed snorter. 1972 J. Mosher Adultery iv. xxiii. 190 Listen to that wind coming up, would you? She's a ring⁓tailed snorter. |