dovetail
Syllables: dove·tail/ˈdʌvteɪl/US/ˈdʌvˌteɪl/
dovetail noun: the tail of a dove (family Columbidae); also, something having the shape of a dove's tail.
Noun
dovetail (plural dovetails)
- The tail of a dove (family Columbidae); also, something having the shape of a dove's tail.
- Beſides this, another fine Starfiſh came to my Hands, […] Its body hath ten corners, and it hath a Star above vvith as many Rays; each of theſe one may compare unto a Sail of the VVindmills that the Children run againſt the VVind vvithal, or to a piece of ſuch Croſſes that are broad before, and...1694, John Narborough; Jasmen Tasman [i.e., Abel Tasman]; John Wood; Frederick Marten [i.e., Friedrich Martens], “[The Voyage into Spitzbergen and Greenland] Of the Crustaceous Fish that I Observed”...
- In full dovetail joint: a type of joint where adjoining components are fastened by multiple tenons cut into wedge shapes resembling a dove's tail, which interlock with mortises having corresponding shapes.
- [T]heſe muſt be joined at Bottom to the Piles by a ſtrong Dove-tail, and the Piles joined vvith Braces; […]1733, Philip Miller, “WINE-PRESS”, in The Gardeners Dictionary: […], 2nd edition, volume I, London: […] C[harles] Rivington, […], →OCLC, column 1
- With a warding file cut a dovetail on each of the ends to be joined, as shown by Fig. 1.1900, “Brazing Keys”, in Paul N[ooncree] Hasluck, editor, Cassell’s Cyclopædia of Mechanics […] (First Series), London; Paris: Cassell and Company, […], →OCLC, page 311, column 1
- Synonyms:
- culvertail, fantail, swallowtail
- A tenon cut into a wedge shape resembling a dove's tail so that it interlocks with a mortise having a corresponding shape in a dovetail joint.
- A line resembling a dovetail joint (sense 2.1).
- I ſhall add other tvvo Forms of Lines, […] The firſt of theſe tvvo is termed Patee, or Dove-Tail, from a Form of Art uſed by Joiners, vvho make Joints one into the other by that Name: […]1722, Alexander Nisbet, “Of the Points and Parts of the Shield; and Forms of Lines, which Divide the Shield into Several Parts”, in A System of Heraldry Speculative and Practical: […], Edinburgh: […]...
- ASSEMBLEE, [in Heraldry,] a Dovetail or more to hold the tvvo Parts of the Eſcutcheon together, vvhere the Partition Line is, being countercharged, is ſome of the Metal and ſome of the Colour of the Eſcutcheon.1736, John Harris, “ASSEMBLEE”, in Lexicon Technicum: Or, An Universal English Dictionary of Arts and Sciences: […], 5th edition, volume I, London: […] J. Walthoe, […], →OCLC, column 2
Verb
dovetail (third-person singular simple present dovetails, present participle dovetailing, simple past and past participle dovetailed)
- To unite (components) with a dovetail (noun sense 2.1) or similar joint.
- [T]heſe Piles ought to be placed contrary to the Stillings, vvhich ſurround or croſs them every three Feet, and Dove-tail'd into the ſquare Supporters; […]1733, Philip Miller, “WINE-PRESS”, in The Gardeners Dictionary: […], 2nd edition, volume I, London: […] C[harles] Rivington, […], →OCLC, column 2
- In house-building it is further forbidden [by Sultan Muhammed Shah] to dovetail or make the ends of the timbers (e.g. of the roof) fit accurately together, and also to build two verandahs, one on each side of the house, with their floors on a level with the floor of the main building; if two...1900, Walter William Skeat, “Man and His Place in the Universe”, in Malay Magic: Being an Introduction to the Folklore and Popular Religion of the Malay Peninsula, London: Macmillan and Co.; New...
- To combine or fit (things) together well.
- The executive board dovetailed its decision neatly with the prior projects the company had taken up.
- Through my new project, I dovetail my interests in botany and programming.
- To interweave (a number of algorithms or subprograms) so that they can be run more or less simultaneously.
- However, we can construct a single master algorithm M that DPExact learns from unknown distribution D by simply dovetailing the algorithms A. The precise way in which we dovetail the algorithms depends on whether our goal is time or query efficiency.2002, Nader H. Bshouty, Jeffrey C. Jackson, Christino Tamon, “Exploring Learnability between Exact and PAC”, in Jyrki Kivinen, Robert H. Sloan, editors, Computational Learning Theory: 15th Annual...
- To seamlessly move a melody from one instrument to another.
- Of several things: to combine or fit together well.
- The parts of your essay should dovetail so that it is cohesive and coherent.
- The task now facing Mr Crook and his team in the multi-disciplinary programme is sequencing the works going forward, to ensure track, signalling, station works and overhead line installations dovetail together.2019 October, Philip Sherratt, “Midland Main Line Upgrade Presses On”, in Modern Railways, Shepperton, Surrey: Ian Allan Publishing, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 60
- To adapt to something; to fit in.
- If I have a row with any fellow, he’s always the first to taunt me with being what he and his friends have made me. I don’t feel it so much now. I used to at first. One dovetails into all that sort of thing in time, and the edge of your feelings, as I may say, wears off by degrees.1851, Henry Mayhew, London Labour and the London Poor, published 1861
dovetail meaning in Urdu, Malayalam, Tagalog and Arabic
dovetail in Urdu
- جوڑ بٹھانا
dovetail in Malayalam
- പലകകൾ കൂട്ടിച്ചേർക്കുന്ന ഒരു രീതി, വിടർന്ന പ്രാവിൻവാൽ ആകൃതിയുളള കുഴ
dovetail in Tagalog
- type of joint where adjoining components are fastened by multiple tenons cut into wedge shapes resembling a dove’s tail, which interlock with mortises having corresponding shapes
- bakám
dovetail in Arabic
- type of joint where adjoining components are fastened by multiple tenons cut into wedge shapes resembling a dove’s tail, which interlock with mortises having corresponding shapes
- تَعْشِيقَة taʕšīqa
- to unite (components) with a dovetail or similar joint
- عَشَّقَ ʕaššaqa
- to combine or fit (things) together well
- اِنْسَجَمَ مَعَ insajama maʕa, رَكَّبَ rakkaba, تَرَابَطَ بَيْنَ tarābaṭa bayna, تَوَافَقَ مَعَ tawāfaqa maʕa, تَوَاصَلَ مَعَ tawāṣala maʕa
More languagesFewer languages
- dovetail in Persian
- اتصال دمچلچلهای
Examples of dovetail in a sentence
- After marking out the pins on the drawer sides, we proceed with the next operation, that is, sawing the dovetails ready for chopping out the waste material.[1921], [William Fairham], “The Dovetail Joint”, in Woodwork Joints: How They are Set Out, How Made and Where Used; […], Philadelphia, Pa....
- DOVETAIL joints, well known for their strength, have long been used in fine cabinet work.1944 April, Edwin M. Love, “Handmade Dovetails”, in Charles McLendon, editor, The Popular Science Monthly, volume 144, number 4, New York...
- The ninth is Quarterly per Pale dovetail, Ruby and Topaz; born by the Right Hon.1765, Mark Anthony Porny [pseudonym; Antoine Pyron du Martre], “Of the Charges. Article I. Of Honourable Ordinaries.”, in The Elements of...
Synonyms of dovetail
Forms of dovetail
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | dovetails |
| alternative form | dove-tail |
| alternative form | dufftail |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | dovetails |
| present participle | dovetailing |
| past participle | dovetailed |
| past | dovetailed |
Origin of dovetail
The noun is derived from dove + tail. The verb is derived from the noun.
Words formed from dovetail
Questions about dovetail
- What does dovetail mean?
- Dovetail means the tail of a dove (family Columbidae); also, something having the shape of a dove's tail.
- What is dovetail in Urdu?
- Dovetail in Urdu is جوڑ بٹھانا. See Dovetail meaning in Urdu.
- How do you use dovetail in a sentence?
- After marking out the pins on the drawer sides, we proceed with the next operation, that is, sawing the dovetails ready for chopping out the waste material.
- What part of speech is dovetail?
- Dovetail can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce dovetail?
- Dovetail is pronounced /ˈdʌvteɪl/ (UK).
- What is the plural of dovetail?
- The plural of dovetail is dovetails.
Words near dovetail in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: dovetail (page history and authors); dovetail (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); dovetail (Malayalam Wiktionary) (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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-dovetail.wav.
Cite this entry: “dovetail.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/dovetail. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.