hangtail

comparative more hangtail · superlative most hangtail

1. With the tail hanging limply.

   The dog dropped, hang-head, hang-tail.

   1967, Joyce Stranger, Rex: A Novel, page 184

   2 more examples

   The dog trotted hangtail away, and the prairie dog turned his head to check on a flush.

   1964, Kulchur - Volume 4, page 50

   At least a hundred hairless dogs, which had been barking fiercely, slunk hangtail through the ruptures that served these huts as doorholes.

   1971, Douglas Woolf, Ya!: John-Juan; Two Novels, page 207

comparative more hangtail · superlative most hangtail

1. Disheartened; low-spirited.

   Most bridegrooms look ashamed and hangtail.

   1952, Rhys Davies, Marianne, page 157

   3 more examples

   When in this sad hangtail mood, even the healthy bites of aggressive fleas could not distract him, so deeply was he immersed in despondency.

   1969, Joe Johnson, Courtin', Sportin', and Non-supportin', page 89

   As they climbed into the van Potter clapped the trooper on the shoulder and Budd responded with as hangtail a smile as the agent had ever in his life encountered.

   1996, Jeffery Deaver, A Maiden's Grave

   And right now you were feeling a little hangtail.

   2001, Jack Curtis, The Sheriff Kill, page 45