fantail

English

A fantail, Rhipidura leucophrys.
A silver-barred fantail pigeon.
A fantail goldfish.
Fantail (on the left) of the RMS Titanic (4)

Etymology

From fan +‎ tail. The sense of Rhipidura-genus birds is a calque of translingual Rhipidura.

Pronunciation

Noun

fantail (plural fantails)

  1. Any of several birds, of the genus Rhipidura, from Asia, Australia and New Zealand.
  2. Any of several domestic varieties of pigeon having a fan-shaped tail.
  3. Any of several goldfish having a large fan-shaped tail.
  4. (nautical) An overhanging deck at the stern of a ship.
    • 1966 March, Thomas Pynchon, chapter 3, in The Crying of Lot 49, New York, N.Y.: Bantam Books, published November 1976, →ISBN, page 38:
      The Paranoids cast off, backed the Godzilla II out from the pier, turned and with a concerted whoop took off like a bat out of hell, nearly sending Di Presso over the fantail.
  5. A small windmill mounted at right angles to the sails, at the rear of the windmill, used to turn the cap automatically to bring it into the wind.
  6. A brimmed hat with just the back of the brim turned up.

Derived terms

Translations

Further reading

Anagrams

Scottish Gaelic

Pronunciation

  • (Islay) IPA(key): /ˈfɛ̃nt̪al/

Noun

fantail f

  1. verbal noun of fan