Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A racehorse.
  • noun A detachable extension to the back of an envelope, having a perforated edge and special marketing information or an order form on it.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A tail which has been banged, or cut horizontally across; also, an animal with a banged or docked tail.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun a horse bred for racing.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A tail of a horse or cow, allowed to grow out and then trimmed horizontally so as to form a tassel; a horse or cow having such a tail.
  • noun US A racehorse.
  • noun slang A prostitute.
  • noun marketing An envelope with a perforated flap on which promotional material is printed; the flap on such an envelope.
  • verb To shear off the hair horizontally at the end of a cow or horse's tail.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a horse bred for racing

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[bang, short hair + tail.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From bang +‎ tail.

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Examples

  • It seems that 'Fireman' O'Leary was most useful in helping the fillies home at Washington Park by assaulting them in the region of the bangtail with small bollops of pure incandescence.

    The Big Fix George Oliver Smith 1946

  • (surprisingly, ` claim 'is the verb; quit = ` quits' or ` even '), bobtail and bangtail (bob and bang = ` crop,' and these are just bobbed examples of humdrum past participle formations), and lockjaw (not conclusively eliminated, but ` locked jaw 'is given as an alternative form).

    VERBATIM: The Language Quarterly Vol V No 1 1987

Comments

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  • Does anyone know if this is of US origin?

    January 26, 2009

  • I dunno, but I bet all my money on the bangtail nag*, doo-dah, doo-dah. And lost. If only you would transmit the names of the winners back from the future, this wouldn't be a problem.

    Alternatively (via Weirdnet): the solid-hoofed herbivorous quadruped domesticated since prehistoric times.

    Oops! My turf accountant has just informed me it was the 'bobtail nag'. Doo-dah!

    January 26, 2009

  • Here's an interesting second definition (via Encarta dictionary): "an envelope with a detachable section that can be used as an order form or to provide marketing information."

    January 27, 2009