put salt on someone's tail

verb

To capture or pin down someone.

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Meanings

verbput salt on someone's tail (third-person singular simple present puts salt on someone's tail, present participle putting salt on someone's tail, simple past and past participle put salt on someone's tail)

present singular third person puts salt on someone's tail · participle present putting salt on someone's tail · alternative lay salt on someone's tail

  1. To capture or pin down someone.

    This accurately describes the many biographers who have tried and failed to get close enough to Newman to put salt on his tail.

    2013, Edward Short, Newman and his Family, page 322

Origin

Alluding to an old folk saying about how to catch birds.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

put salt on someone's tail. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/put%20salt%20on%20someone's%20tail

MLA

“put salt on someone's tail.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/put%20salt%20on%20someone's%20tail. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “put salt on someone's tail,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/put%20salt%20on%20someone's%20tail.

Source: put salt on someone's tail on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.