shavetail

S1H4A1V4E1T1A1I1L1

noun

An inexperienced person, especially a newly-commissioned military officer.

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Meanings

nounshavetail (plural shavetails)

plural shavetails

  1. USAn inexperienced person, especially a newly-commissioned military officer.

    Yass. I never got above the rank of shavetail. We were the dogfaces who gave ’em hell at Chateau Thierry.

    1962, Joseph Commings, “The X Street Murders”, in The Mammoth Book of Perfect Crimes & Impossible Mysteries, published 2006
    1 more example

    You stupid, goddamn shavetail son of a bitch! You keep your fucking weapon pointed downrange or I will shove that fuckin' piece up your sorry fucking ass!

    2010, Laurence Andries, Bruce C. McKenna, The Pacific (miniseries), episode 5, spoken by Elmo M. Haney (Gary Sweet)

Origin

From shave + tail.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

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

MLA

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

Chicago

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

Source: shavetail on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.