Word.ws English Dictionary

had the world by the tail

had the world by the tail is the simple past and past participle of have the world by the tail.

Meaning of have the world by the tail

Verb

have the world by the tail (third-person singular simple present has the world by the tail, present participle having the world by the tail, simple past and past participle had the world by the tail)

  1. (idiomatic) To possess great influence and opportunity.
    • "Webb thinks he's got the world by the tail for a downhill pull. I'll show him."1919, William MacLeod Raine, chapter 15, in A Man Four-Square

Questions about had the world by the tail

What is had the world by the tail the simple past and past participle of?
Had the world by the tail is the simple past and past participle of have the world by the tail.

Words near had the world by the tail in the dictionary

  1. had the wolf by the ear
  2. had the world by the bag
  3. had the world by the balls
  4. had the world by the neck
  5. had the world by the nuts
  6. had the world by the tail
  7. had the world by the tail on a downhill pull
  8. had the world by the testicles
  9. had the world on a string
  10. had tickets on oneself
  11. had time

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: had the world by the tail (page history and authors); have the world by the tail (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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