The Collaborative International Dictionary
Rat-tail \Rat"-tail`\, n.
(Far.) pl. An excrescence growing from the pastern to the middle of the shank of a horse.
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(Zo["o]l.)
The California chim[ae]ra. See Chim[ae]ra.
Any fish of the genus Macrurus. See Grenadier, 2.
Rat-tail \Rat"-tail`\ (r[a^]t"t[=a]l`), a. Like a rat's tail in form; as, a rat-tail file, which is round, slender, and tapering. See Illust. of File.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
Wiktionary
n. 1 (context slang English) A towel that has been tightly twisted along the diagonal to make a rudimentary whip with a towel corner at the tip, typically used in juvenile pranks. 2 An excrescence growing from the pastern to the middle of the shank of a horse. 3 A fish, the (vern California chimera pedia=1), (taxlink Hydrolagus colliei species noshow=1), syn. (taxlink Chimaera colliei species noshow=1). 4 Any fish of the genus (taxlink Macrurus genus noshow=1); a grenadier.
Usage examples of "rat-tail".
Don Lucifer di SEmbowelli Borgia had ordered the concrete over-shoeing in revenge for not only bungling his nose job, but also for the rat-tail that post surgery he had discovered dangling from his rear and the rattish squeakings that he now emitted every time he opened his mouth .
Therefore, the meanest rat-tailed, scrawny plant in Whip's experimental field received the same care as the best Guatemala.
A dozen or so kobolds—small, rat-tailed relatives of goblins—lurked in narrow stone alcoves, and their bulbous eyes scanned the streets anxiously and continually.
My dad used to say it caused more trouble than a rat-tailed horse tied short in fly time.
A weird rat-tailed creature swam into the dim light coming from inside Old Gert.
I parked myself under a nozzle back in the corner, not out of any sense of modesty, but because that was far enough away from the entrance that random cool breezes and giddy players with towels spun into rat-tails couldn't easily get at me.