roostertail

Meanings

nounroostertail (plural roostertails)

A violent fountain or spray, especially one caused by a moving vehicle or boat.
A roostertail of snow kicked up behind me.
1988, Libby Riddles, Race Across Alaska: First Woman to Win the Iditarod Tells Her Story, →ISBN, page 21

verbroostertail (third-person singular simple present roostertails, present participle roostertailing, simple past and past participle roostertailed)

present singular third person roostertails · participle present roostertailing · participle past roostertailed · past roostertailed · alternative rooster-tail

To pour like a fountain; to spurt violently.
The red dust of Tanguieta rolling and roostertailing behind us.
2005, Pete Watson, “The Prisoner”, in The Heart of the Lion, →ISBN
To move rapidly through water, leaving a roostertail wake.
The shiny new aluminum tribal Jet-Boat roostertailed up the river, straight for us, kicking up a wake that rocked our boat hard enough to knock the cards off the cooler.
2005, Dave Ames, A Good Life Wasted, →ISBN, page 197

From rooster + tail, from analogy with the shape of a rooster's feathered tail.

Cite this entry

APA

roostertail. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/roostertail

MLA

“roostertail.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/roostertail. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “roostertail,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/roostertail.