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Wiktionary
tail lift

n. A mechanical device permanently fitted to the back of a vehicle, designed to facilitate the transfer of goods from ground level onto the vehicle.

Wikipedia
Tail lift

A tail lift (also called a mobile dock leveler) is a mechanical device permanently fitted to the back of van or lorry, and is designed to facilitate the materials handling of goods from ground level or a loading dock to the level of the load bed of the vehicle, or vice versa.

The majority of tail lifts are hydraulic or pneumatic in operation, although they can be mechanical, and are controlled by an operator using an electric relay switch.

Using a tail lift can make it unnecessary to use machinery such as a forklift truck to load heavy items on to a vehicle. A tail lift can also bridge the difference in height between a loading dock and the vehicle load bed.

Tail lifts are available for many sizes of vehicle, from standard vans to articulated lorries, and standard models can lift anywhere up to 2500kg.

Usage examples of "tail lift".

My hands tightened automatically on the control column as I felt the tail lift.

But if that was really a tail lift, then it might be trying to communicate top-disgust-sensation as well as top-speech-volition.

I felt the tail lift, and everything became a sickening whirl of dark green and glare, and the hard silver light of the river came up to shatter the windshield.

Watching, Dumarest saw the segmented tail lift and the spined legs stiffen as if the creature enjoyed the tapping.

He goes back out and wheels it off the tail lift on a hand truck, she clears a space for it in the garage, he brings it in, he dumps it, and she's all smiles about it.