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hangtail

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

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Etymology

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From hang +‎ tail, from the way a dog will leave its tail drooping or hanging when frightened or sad.

Adverb

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hangtail (comparative more hangtail, superlative most hangtail)

  1. With the tail hanging limply.
    • 1964, Kulchur - Volume 4, page 50:
      The dog trotted hangtail away, and the prairie dog turned his head to check on a flush.
    • 1967, Joyce Stranger, Rex: A Novel, page 184:
      The dog dropped, hang-head, hang-tail.
    • 1971, Douglas Woolf, Ya!: John-Juan; Two Novels, page 207:
      At least a hundred hairless dogs, which had been barking fiercely, slunk hangtail through the ruptures that served these huts as doorholes.

Adjective

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hangtail (comparative more hangtail, superlative most hangtail)

  1. Disheartened; low-spirited.
    • 1952, Rhys Davies, Marianne, page 157:
      Most bridegrooms look ashamed and hangtail.
    • 1969, Joe Johnson, Courtin', Sportin', and Non-supportin', page 89:
      When in this sad hangtail mood, even the healthy bites of aggressive fleas could not distract him, so deeply was he immersed in despondency.
    • 1996, Jeffery Deaver, A Maiden's Grave:
      As they climbed into the van Potter clapped the trooper on the shoulder and Budd responded with as hangtail a smile as the agent had ever in his life encountered.
    • 2001, Jack Curtis, The Sheriff Kill, page 45:
      And right now you were feeling a little hangtail.