Word.ws English Dictionary

coattails

coattails is the plural of coattail.

coattails is the third-person singular simple present indicative of coattail.

Meaning of coattail

Noun

coattail (plural coattails)

  1. The flap at the back of a coat that hangs down, sometimes below the waist.
    • At twilight in the summer[…]the mice come out. They[…]eat the luncheon crumbs. Mr. Checkly, for instance, always brought his dinner in a paper parcel in his coat-tail pocket, and ate it when so disposed, sprinkling crumbs lavishly[…]on the floor.1892, Walter Besant, chapter II, in The Ivory Gate […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC
  2. (figuratively, plural-normally) Success of a figure, organization or movement that transfers to those who associate with it.
    • to ride the coattails

See all 3 meanings of coattail

Phrases with coattails

Questions about coattails

What is coattails the plural of?
Coattails is the plural of coattail.

Words near coattails in the dictionary

  1. coattail
  2. coattail effect
  3. coattail effects
  4. coattailed
  5. coattailing
  6. coattails
  7. coattend
  8. coattended
  9. coattending
  10. coattends
  11. coattest

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: coattails (page history and authors); coattail (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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