Word.ws English Dictionary

hardtail

hardtail noun: (A) jack (edible fish of the genus Caranx or Trachurus).

Noun

hardtail (plural hardtails)

  1. (countable, uncountable) (A) jack (edible fish of the genus Caranx or Trachurus).
  2. A bicycle or motorcycle without rear suspension.
  3. (New-England) A small scombrid, especially a little tunny or bonito.
    • But if fishing for striped bass is a piscatorial religion, then fishing for hardtails is its cultish counterpart.2020, Brendan Richards, “How to Catch Bonito and Albies From Shore”, in On The Water
    • Hardtail invasion all over the island: bonito, albies, Spanish/chub/Atlantic/frigate mackerel, even skipjack tuna.2023, Tim Regan, “Eastern Long Island Fishing Report- September 14, 2023”, in On The Water
  4. (US, countable, dated, slang) A mule.
    • He'll ride a horse now and then, but he prefers them long-eared hardtails.

Forms of hardtail

pluralhardtails

Origin of hardtail

From hard + tail.

Questions about hardtail

What does hardtail mean?
Hardtail means (A) jack (edible fish of the genus Caranx or Trachurus).
What part of speech is hardtail?
Hardtail is a noun.
What is the plural of hardtail?
The plural of hardtail is hardtails.

Words near hardtail in the dictionary

  1. hardsuit
  2. hardsuits
  3. Hardt
  4. hardtack
  5. hardtacks
  6. hardtail
  7. hardtails
  8. hardtek
  9. hardtop
  10. hardtops
  11. Hardts

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: hardtail (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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Cite this entry: “hardtail.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/hardtail. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.