wagtail
- wagtail
‘Thou wagtail’ was a commonly used vocative in the seventeenth century. Applied to a young man it was usually contemptuous, applied to a woman it was always contemptuous, and was roughly equivalent to calling her a whore.
The term is in no way connected with the small bird which bears this name. It refers to one of the obscene meanings of ‘tail’, which to a seventeenth-century Englishman was either the male or female sex organs.
The female reference has survived in slang use, where references to a piece of tail are to a woman considered merely as a sex object. Use of ‘you wagtail’ to a man occurs in King Lear. Oswald refers to ‘this ancient ruffian, sir, whose life I have spared’. Kent replies: ‘Spare my grey beard, you wagtail.’ In Beaumont and Fletcher’s The Wild-Goose Chase, Belleur says to Rosalura: ‘Thou wagtail, peacock, puppy look on me: I am a gentleman.’
Use of this term seems to have died out by the end of the eighteenth century.
A dictionary of epithets and terms of address .
Leslie Dunkling .
2015.
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Wagtail — Wag tail , n. (Zo[ o]l.) Any one of many species of Old World singing birds belonging to {Motacilla} and several allied genera of the family {Motacillid[ae]}. They have the habit of constantly jerking their long tails up and down, whence the name … The Collaborative International Dictionary of English
wagtail — ► NOUN ▪ a slender songbird with a long tail that is frequently wagged up and down … English terms dictionary
wagtail — [wag′tāl΄] n. 1. any of numerous small passerine birds (family Motacillidae) mostly native to Europe, characterized by long wing feathers and a very long tail that wags up and down ☆ 2. any of various similar birds, as an American waterthrush … English World dictionary
Wagtail — For the nuclear missile, see Wagtail (missile). Wagtails African Pied Wagtail Scientific classification Kingdom … Wikipedia
wagtail — /wag tayl /, n. 1. any of numerous small, chiefly Old World birds of the family Motacillidae, having a slender body with a long, narrow tail that is habitually wagged up and down. 2. any of several similar birds, as the water thrushes of the… … Universalium
wagtail — UK [ˈwæɡˌteɪl] / US noun [countable] Word forms wagtail : singular wagtail plural wagtails a small bird with a long tail that quickly moves up and down when the bird walks … English dictionary
wagtail — [[t]wæ̱gteɪl[/t]] wagtails N COUNT A wagtail is a type of small bird which moves its tail quickly up and down as it walks … English dictionary
wagtail — noun a slender songbird with a long tail that is frequently wagged up and down. [Motacilla alba (pied wagtail) and other species.] … English new terms dictionary
wagtail — /ˈwægteɪl / (say wagtayl) noun 1. any of numerous small, chiefly Eurasian birds of the family Motacillidae, having a slender body with a long, narrow tail which is habitually wagged up and down; a number of species are irregular migrants or… …
wagtail — tikrosios kielės statusas T sritis zoologija | vardynas atitikmenys: lot. Motacilla angl. wagtail vok. Stelze, f rus. настоящая трясогузка, f; трясогузка, f pranc. bergeronnette, f ryšiai: platesnis terminas – kieliniai siauresnis terminas –… … Paukščių pavadinimų žodynas
