Word.ws English Dictionary

having the world by the tail

having the world by the tail is the present participle and gerund 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 having the world by the tail

What is having the world by the tail the present participle and gerund of?
Having the world by the tail is the present participle and gerund of have the world by the tail.

Words near having the world by the tail in the dictionary

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

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: having 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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