末端, 结束

[经] 结束时期

Tail \Tail\, n. [AS. t[ae]gel, t[ae]gl; akin to G. zagel, Icel.
tagl, Sw. tagel, Goth. tagl hair. [root]59.]
1. (Zo["o]l.) The terminal, and usually flexible, posterior
appendage of an animal.

Note: The tail of mammals and reptiles contains a series of
movable vertebr[ae], and is covered with flesh and
hairs or scales like those of other parts of the body.
The tail of existing birds consists of several more or
less consolidated vertebr[ae] which supports a fanlike
group of quills to which the term tail is more
particularly applied. The tail of fishes consists of
the tapering hind portion of the body ending in a
caudal fin. The term tail is sometimes applied to the
entire abdomen of a crustacean or insect, and sometimes
to the terminal piece or pygidium alone.

2. Any long, flexible terminal appendage; whatever resembles,
in shape or position, the tail of an animal, as a catkin.

Doretus writes a great praise of the distilled
waters of those tails that hang on willow trees.
--Harvey.

3. Hence, the back, last, lower, or inferior part of
anything, -- as opposed to the {head}, or the superior
part.

The Lord will make thee the head, and not the tail.
--Deut.
xxviii. 13.

4. A train or company of attendants; a retinue.

``Ah,'' said he, ``if you saw but the chief with his
tail on.'' --Sir W.
Scott.

5. The side of a coin opposite to that which bears the head,
effigy, or date; the reverse; -- rarely used except in the
expression ``heads or tails,'' employed when a coin is
thrown up for the purpose of deciding some point by its
fall.

6. (Anat.) The distal tendon of a muscle.

7. (Bot.) A downy or feathery appendage to certain achenes.
It is formed of the permanent elongated style.

8. (Surg.)
(a) A portion of an incision, at its beginning or end,
which does not go through the whole thickness of the
skin, and is more painful than a complete incision; --
called also {tailing}.
(b) One of the strips at the end of a bandage formed by
splitting the bandage one or more times.

9. (Naut.) A rope spliced to the strap of a block, by which
it may be lashed to anything.

10. (Mus.) The part of a note which runs perpendicularly
upward or downward from the head; the stem. --Moore
(Encyc. of Music).

11. pl. Same as {Tailing}, 4.

12. (Arch.) The bottom or lower portion of a member or part,
as a slate or tile.

13. pl. (Mining) See {Tailing}, n., 5.

14. (Astronomy) the long visible stream of gases, ions, or
dust particles extending from the head of a comet in the
direction opposite to the sun.
[PJC]

15. pl. (Rope Making) In some forms of rope-laying machine,
pieces of rope attached to the iron bar passing through
the grooven wooden top containing the strands, for
wrapping around the rope to be laid.
[Webster 1913 Suppl.]

16. pl. A tailed coat; a tail coat. [Colloq. or Dial.]
[Webster 1913 Suppl.]

17. (A["e]ronautics) In airplanes, an airfoil or group of
airfoils used at the rear to confer stability.
[Webster 1913 Suppl.]

18. the buttocks. [slang or vulgar]
[PJC]

19. sexual intercourse, or a woman used for sexual
intercourse; as, to get some tail; to find a piece of
tail. See also {tailing[3]}. [slang and vulgar]
[PJC]

{Tail beam}. (Arch.) Same as {Tailpiece}.

{Tail coverts} (Zo["o]l.), the feathers which cover the bases
of the tail quills. They are sometimes much longer than
the quills, and form elegant plumes. Those above the
quills are called the {upper tail coverts}, and those
below, the {under tail coverts}.

{Tail end}, the latter end; the termination; as, the tail end
of a contest. [Colloq.]

{Tail joist}. (Arch.) Same as {Tailpiece}.

{Tail of a comet} (Astron.), a luminous train extending from
the nucleus or body, often to a great distance, and
usually in a direction opposite to the sun.

{Tail of a gale} (Naut.), the latter part of it, when the
wind has greatly abated. --Totten.

{Tail of a lock} (on a canal), the lower end, or entrance
into the lower pond.

{Tail of the trenches} (Fort.), the post where the besiegers
begin to break ground, and cover themselves from the fire
of the place, in advancing the lines of approach.

{Tail spindle}, the spindle of the tailstock of a turning
lathe; -- called also {dead spindle}.

{To turn tail}, to run away; to flee.

Would she turn tail to the heron, and fly quite out
another way; but all was to return in a higher
pitch. --Sir P.
Sidney.