pigtail
English
[edit]
Alternative forms
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Pronunciation
[edit]Noun
[edit]pigtail (plural pigtails)
- (literally) The tail of a pig.
- Tobacco twisted into a string or roll. [from 17th c.]
- 1828, JT Smith, Nollekens and His Times, Century Hutchinson, published 1986, page 265:
- One person […] continued constantly to ply him with the very best pig-tail tobacco, which he had most carefully cut in very small pieces purposely for him.
- A braided plait of hair; queue. [from 18th c.]
- 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:
- Such a filthy spectacle as we presented I have never seen before or since, and it will perhaps give some idea of the almost superhuman dignity of Billali's appearance when I say that, coughing, half-drowned, and covered with mud and green slime as he was, with his beautiful beard coming to a dripping point, like a Chinaman's freshly-oiled pig-tail, he still looked venerable and imposing.
- (now especially) Either of a pair of braids or tails worn on the sides of the head.
- 2000, Bill Oddie, Gripping Yarns, page 12:
- [I]t was something that every schoolboy of my generation almost `had' to do, as obligatory a proof of impending manliness as scrumping apples or pulling girls' pigtails.
- (in the plural) A hairstyle with a pair of pigtails.
- (colloquial, in the plural) A person who wears pigtails. [from 1911]
- (electrical engineering) A short length of twisted electrical wire. [from 20th c.]
- Synonym: tail
- The flamingo flower (anthurium)
- (medicine) Twisted stent terminal; stent-end, usually but not necessarily a different fastened part.
Derived terms
[edit]Translations
[edit]braided plait of hair
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either of two braids or ponytails
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twisted piece of tobacco
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cable
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flamingo flower — see flamingo flower
tail of a pig
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Further reading
[edit]- “pigtail”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.