hangtail

English

Etymology

hang +‎ tail, from the way a dog will leave its tail drooping or hanging when frightened or sad.

Adverb

hangtail (comparative more hangtail, superlative most hangtail)

1. With the tail hanging limply.
   • 1964, Kulchur - Volume 4, page 50:

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

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

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

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

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

Adjective

hangtail (comparative more hangtail, superlative most hangtail)

1. Disheartened; low-spirited.
   • 1952, Rhys Davies, Marianne, page 157:

     Most bridegrooms look ashamed and hangtail.

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

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

   • 1996, Jeffery Deaver, A Maiden's Grave:

     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.

   • 2001, Jack Curtis, The Sheriff Kill, page 45:

     And right now you were feeling a little hangtail.