floptail

present singular third person floptails · participle present floptailing · participle past floptailed · past floptailed

1. AustraliaobsoleteSynonym of lobtail.

   [T]wo or three of the killer pack started to floptail about at the entrance to the river.

   1961, Tom Mead, Killers of Eden, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 136

   4 more examples

   After flop-tailing a while, there were to be noticed Hookie, Cooper, Jackson, Typee, Tom, Kincher, and other killers as known by their distinctive dorsal fins, ranged in semi-circular form between Look-out Point and North Head.

   1909 August 23, The Twofold Bay Magnet, NSW, page 3, column 2

   ‘Remember how Tom and Jackson and Hooky used to come in and floptail to let us know they had a whale bailed up outside?’

   1961, Tom Mead, Killers of Eden, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 215

   The line was unwound by Geo. Davidson, the killer remaining quiet and then it ‘floptailed’ before making off.

   1980, W.F. Perrin and A.C Myrick Jr., Age Determination of Toothed Whales and Sirenians, Cambridge: International Whaling Comission, page 146, column 2

   They throw themselves out of the water, floptailing to alert us to the quarry, and then the cry of ‘Rushoo!’ will resound around the bay as we scramble for the boats.

   2003, Robert Holden, The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea, Sydney: HarperCollins, page 268

   Synonyms: lobtail

plural floptails

1. AustraliaobsoleteThe action of lobtailing.

   ‘Stand by to lower-down with your falls.’ ‘There’s blackskin,’ meaning the whale itself. ‘There she breaches.’ ‘That’s only floptail.’

   1849, James Ward, Perils, Pastimes, and Pleasures of an Emigrant in Australia, Vancouver's Island and California, London: Thomas Cautley Newby, page 126

   1 more example

   Years ago when there were more killers one of them would go to the mouth of the river and call up the whaleboat by jumping right out of the water and bringing its tail down hard on the water, so as to make a smack that can he heard all over the bay. This is called ‘flop tail.’

   1927 December 10, The Australasian, Melbourne, page 63, column 1