empennage
(ɛmˈpɛnɪdʒ)
[Fr., f. empenner to feather (an arrow).]
An arrangement of stabilizing planes at the stern of an aeroplane or airship; also, the tail-surfaces or tail-plane. Also transf. and fig.
| 1909 A. Berget Conquest of Air ii. i. 132 The empennage will comprise a surface placed well to the rear of the sustaining surface..to which it will be joined. 1911 Aero Nov. 232/1 The construction of the empennage or fixed ‘non-lifting’ tail plane. 1912 S. L. Walkden Aeroplanes in Gusts xii. 95 This..only defines the path AH more obstinately than before, unless the empennage is made with considerable spread in the fore-and-aft direction. 1926 Chambers's Jrnl. 580/1 In every aeroplane the tail unit or ‘empennage’ comprises the rudder,..the elevators,..and the fin. 1927 E. W. Springs Nocturne Militaire viii. 258 They vibrated like a hula dancer's empennage. 1959 New Scientist 7 May 1014/1 An empennage that could serve a satellite as a rudder. |