Meanings
tailgate1
plural tailgates · alternative tail-gate · alternative tail gate
- automotiveA hinged board or hatch at the rear of a vehicle that can be lowered for loading and unloading.
Drop the tailgate, please, and I'll load these pallets.
1 more example
When they first attached tailgates to cars, we were hooked. By the 1970s, wagons with names like Vista Cruiser and Town & Country sported tailgates as big as dining tables.
2007, Stephen Linn, The Ultimate Tailgater's Racing Guide, →ISBNSynonyms: tailboard
- The downstream gate in the lock on a canal or river, or in an irrigation system.
The locktender closed the tailgate and the chamber started to fill.
Antonyms: headgate
- USabbreviationellipsisEllipsis of tailgate party.
Are you coming to the tailgate? We'll be grilling brisket.
2 more examples
“You don’t want to be at a tailgate having fish and chips,” said Elanja O’Toole, who wore a San Diego Chargers jersey while her husband, Llian O’Toole, wore a St. Louis Rams jersey and face paint.
2013 September 29, Ken Belson, “The Tailgate Experience, British Style”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 08 Dec 2021The website was created by Harry St. John, a former college athlete who wanted to take the agony out of managing tailgates.
2013 November 8, Nancy M. Better, “Tailgating Gets Online Playbooks”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 13 Jul 2019
present singular third person tailgates · participle present tailgating · participle past tailgated · past tailgated · alternative tail-gate · alternative tail gate
- intransitivetransitiveautomotiveTo drive dangerously close behind another vehicle.
If that idiot keeps tailgating our car they'll end up rear-endeding us.
2 more examples
She also tailgated them at high speed in her convertible yellow Mercedes.
2002 October 19, Helen Carter, “That's no lady - that's the heiress who taunted neighbours”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 08 Dec 2021Last week the UK government announced a crackdown on unsafe driving. From now on, those of us spotted tailgating or lane hogging will face on-the-spot fines of £100 and three penalty points.
2013 August 19, Chris Chambers, “Bad driving: what are we thinking?”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 20 Apr 2021 - To follow another person through access control on their access, rather than on one’s own credentials, especially when entering a door controlled by a card reader.
An email circulated to ABC employees says Gallagher is believed to have tailgated staff walking through the building’s high-security doors.
2018 September 10, “ABC tightens Sydney security after man allegedly infiltrates building and assaults employee”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 08 Dec 2021 - businessTo privately purchase or sell a security immediately after trading in the same security for a client.
- USintransitiveTo participate in a tailgate party.
The point, Goldstein discovered through a lot of long days hanging out in parking lots, is that tailgating — the gustatory madness, the multigenerational camaraderie, the decked-out vans — is as essential a part of football as the game itself.
2013 September 29, Ken Belson, “The Tailgate Experience, British Style”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 08 Dec 20211 more example
“Hey, what are you guys doing?” “Dude, we're gonna tailgate the tryouts.” “Oh, shit. That's a good idea. Oh, you gonna bust out Green Man, bro?” “No. No Green Man.” “What's Green Man?” “Well, in high school, Charlie was like our school mascot.” “A mascot nobody wanted. He'd get wasted and dress in this green spandex bodysuit.” “Spandex?” “It was really sad.” “That's it.” “You gotta bring the Green Man suit.” “Yeah, no. Done with it.” “The spandex.” “Green Man was good. It got me through some hard times. But I'm done with it. Tell you what. You can wear it if you want, but I'm just gonna be relaxing, okay? This is gonna be about chilling out for me.” “No. This is gonna be exactly like Woodstock.”
2007 September 13, Charlie Day & David Hornsby & Glenn Howerton, “The Gang Gets Invincible” (3:56 from the start), in It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, season 3, episode 2, spoken by Charlie Kelly (Charlie Day)
Tailgate2
- Synonym of Monicagate.
Synonyms: Monicagate
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA hinged board or hatch at the rear of a vehicle that can be lowered for loading and unloading.
nounThe hinged rear door of a hatchback.
nounThe downstream gate in the lock on a canal or river, or in an irrigation system.
verbTo follow another person through access control on their access, rather than on one’s own credentials, especially when entering a door controlled by a card reader.
proper nounSynonym of Monicagate.
More synonyms by meaning
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
Tailgate · proper noun
From tail + -gate, with reference to tail (“sexual intercourse”), as a pun on tailgate.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian заден капак, долна врата на шлюз
- заден капак (zaden kapak)hinged board or hatch at the rear of a vehicle
- долна врата на шлюз (dolna vrata na šljuz)either of the downstream gates in a canal lock
Catalan porta posterior, porta del darrere
- porta posteriorhinged board or hatch at the rear of a vehicle
- porta del darrerehinged board or hatch at the rear of a vehicle
- enganxar-sedrive dangerously close behind another vehicle
Chinese Mandarin 後擋板 /后挡板
- 後擋板 /后挡板 (hòudǎngbǎn)hinged board or hatch at the rear of a vehicle
Danish bagsmæk, baglåge
- bagsmækhinged board or hatch at the rear of a vehicle
- baglågehinged board or hatch at the rear of a vehicle
- køre uden sikkerhedsafstanddrive dangerously close behind another vehicle
Dutch laadklep, bumperkleven
- laadklephinged board or hatch at the rear of a vehicle
- bumperklevendrive dangerously close behind another vehicle
- klevendrive dangerously close behind another vehicle
Finnish perälauta, alaportti
- perälautahinged board or hatch at the rear of a vehicle
- alaporttieither of the downstream gates in a canal lock
- roikkua perässädrive dangerously close behind another vehicle
- peesatato follow another person through access control on their access, rather than on one’s own credentials, especially when entering a door controlled by a card reader
French hayon, vantail
- hayonhinged board or hatch at the rear of a vehicle
- vantaileither of the downstream gates in a canal lock
- porteeither of the downstream gates in a canal lock
- collerdrive dangerously close behind another vehicle
- coller aux basquesdrive dangerously close behind another vehicle
- coller au traindrive dangerously close behind another vehicle
- coller au culdrive dangerously close behind another vehicle
German Heckklappe, dicht auffahren
- Heckklappehinged board or hatch at the rear of a vehicle
- dicht auffahrendrive dangerously close behind another vehicle
- drängelndrive dangerously close behind another vehicle
Irish clár deiridh
- clár deiridhhinged board or hatch at the rear of a vehicle
Italian portellone
- portellonehinged board or hatch at the rear of a vehicle
Latin prope insequi
- prope insequidrive dangerously close behind another vehicle
Norwegian baklem
- baklemhinged board or hatch at the rear of a vehicle
Norwegian Bokmål bakluke
- baklukehinged board or hatch at the rear of a vehicle
Polish klapa tylna, siedzieć na ogonie
- klapa tylnahinged board or hatch at the rear of a vehicle
- siedzieć na ogoniedrive dangerously close behind another vehicle
- siedzieć na zderzakudrive dangerously close behind another vehicle
Russian за́дний борт, спускно́й шлюз
- за́дний борт (zádnij bort)hinged board or hatch at the rear of a vehicle
- спускно́й шлюз (spusknój šljuz)either of the downstream gates in a canal lock
- не соблюда́ть диста́нцию (ne sobljudátʹ distánciju)drive dangerously close behind another vehicle
- не соблюсти́ диста́нцию (ne sobljustí distánciju)drive dangerously close behind another vehicle
- проходить паровозиком (proxoditʹ)to follow another person through access control on their access, rather than on one’s own credentials, especially when entering a door controlled by a card reader
Spanish puerta trasera, chupar rueda
- puerta traserahinged board or hatch at the rear of a vehicle
- chupar ruedadrive dangerously close behind another vehicle
- conducir pegado adrive dangerously close behind another vehicle
- conducir muy cerca de otro vehículodrive dangerously close behind another vehicle
- conducir sin distancia de seguridaddrive dangerously close behind another vehicle
Swedish bakläm, baklucka
- baklämhinged board or hatch at the rear of a vehicle
- bakluckahinged board or hatch at the rear of a vehicle
- slussporteither of the downstream gates in a canal lock
Vietnamese bám sát đuôi, dí đít
- bám sát đuôidrive dangerously close behind another vehicle
- dí đítdrive dangerously close behind another vehicle
Cite this entry
tailgate. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tailgate
“tailgate.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tailgate. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “tailgate,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tailgate.
Source: tailgate on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.