coat-tail

plural coat-tails

1. alternativeAlternative form of coattail.

   He paced the floor uneasily, his hands under his coat-tails.

   1909, Mary Roberts Rinehart, “Finer Details”, in The Man in Lower Ten, New York, N.Y.: Grosset & Dunlap, →OCLC, page 345

   4 more examples

   At twilight in the summer […] the mice come out. They […] eat the luncheon crumbs. Mr. Checkly, for instance, always brought his dinner in a paper parcel in his coat-tail pocket, and ate it when so disposed, sprinkling crumbs lavishly—the only lavishment of which he was ever guilty—on the floor.

   1892, Walter Besant, “In the Office”, in The Ivory Gate […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC, page 45

   He could merely urge his heavy bulk onward toward the fast fleeing train; and dashed up the platform, overcoat streaming from his arm, coat-tails flying, hat crushed down upon his head, his fat, bechalked legs rumbling heavily after him.

   1968, Grace Livingston Hill, The Best Man, page 58

   He loved Rick and gave the best years of his life, now to roistering with him, now to hanging on to his coat-tails.

   1986, John le Carré, A Perfect Spy

   Mr Obama’s coat-tails may help lift Wall-Street-basher Elizabeth Warren past pickup-driving Everyman and one-time nude pin-up Scott Brown in Massachusetts, despite Ms Warren’s inability to substantiate her claim that she has native American forebears.

   2012 October 6, “The Senate: Not so flippable”, in The Economist, London: The Economist Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 04 Oct 2012

present singular third person coat-tails · participle present coat-tailing · participle past coat-tailed · past coat-tailed

1. alternativeAlternative form of coattail.