whiptail
(ˈhwɪpteɪl)
[f. whip n. 1 + tail n.1]
Name used (simply or attrib.) for any one of various animals having a long slender tail like a whip-lash: see quots.
| 1771 J. R. Forster Flora Amer. Septentr. To Rdr. p. vii, Whiptail forked Fistularia tabaccaria [tobacco-pipe fish]. 1887 Tyrwhitt New Chum Queensland Bush 145 (Morris) Kangaroos..of..different kinds,..the smaller kind, known as pretty faces or whip tails. 1887 Buck's Handbk. Med. Sci. V. 748/1 The genus Thelyphonus (Whip-tail, Nigger Killer, Mule Killer..) [= whip-scorpion]. 1898 Morris Austral Eng., Tasmanian Whiptail,..Coryphænoides tasmaniæ,..an altogether different fish from Myliobatis aquila, the Eagle or Whiptail Ray [= whip-ray]. |