red-tail
(ˈrɛdteɪl)
1. = redstart 1 (and 1 b).
| 1552 Elyot, Ruticilla, a little birde called a red tayle. 1611 Cotgr., Rubienne, the Red-taile, or Starke; a small bird. 1661 Lovell Hist. Anim. & Min. Introd., Bunting, redtaile. 1736 Ainsworth Lat. Dict. s.v. Red, A red tail, Phoenicurus. 1783 Latham Gen. Synopsis Birds II. ii. 425 Red Tail. Motacilla erithacus. A Trifle bigger than the Redstart. 1802 Montagu Ornith. Dict. (1831) 412 Redstart... Provincial.—Redtail. Brantail. Firetail. 1869– in dial. glossaries (Northumbld., Lonsd., E. Anglia, Som.). 1896 Morris & Tegetmeier Nests Brit. Birds II. 66 Black Redstart.—Black Red-Tail. |
b. U.S. The red-tailed buzzard (Buteo borealis).
| 1812 Wilson Amer. Ornith. VI. 75 Early next morning the unfortunate Red-tail was found a prisoner. |
2. † a. The rudd. Obs. b. A name of several American fishes (see quots.).
| 1740 R. Brookes Art of Angling Index, The Rud or Red-tail. 1876 Goode in Smithson. Coll. (1877) XIII. v. 15 Carassius auratus..Red-tail. 1877 Jordan Ibid. ix. 29 note, Vulgar names [of Kentuckian Shiner]: Indian Chub, Red⁓tail, Shiner. Ibid. 37 note, Vulgar names [of Red-tail Sucker]: Red-horse, Red-tail, Horse-fish [etc.]. |
3. attrib., as red-tail hawk, red-tail lizard, red-tail parrot, red-tail sucker, red-tail warbler.
| 1802 Shaw Gen. Zool. III. i. 244 Red-tail Lizard. Lacerta Cruenta. 1817 Ibid. X. ii. 674 Red-Tail Warbler (Sylvia Erithracus). 1820 Rafinesque in Smithson. Coll. (1877) XIII. ix. 37 Red-tail Sucker, Catostomus Erythrurus. 1894 Outing (U.S.) XXIII. 406/1 The red-tail hawk has his story of a cold wintry day. 1897 M. Kingsley W. Africa 58 The wearer's hair aglow with red-tail parrots' feathers. |