Word.ws English Dictionary

lay salt on someone's tail

lay salt on someone's tail is the alternative form of put salt on someone's tail.

Meaning of put salt on someone's tail

Verb

put salt on someone's tail (third-person singular simple present puts salt on someone's tail, present participle putting salt on someone's tail, simple past and past participle put salt on someone's tail)

  1. To capture or pin down someone.
    • This accurately describes the many biographers who have tried and failed to get close enough to Newman to put salt on his tail.2013, Edward Short, Newman and his Family, page 322

Forms of lay salt on someone's tail

third-person singular presentlays salt on someone's tail
present participlelaying salt on someone's tail
past participlelaid salt on someone's tail
pastlaid salt on someone's tail

Questions about lay salt on someone's tail

What is lay salt on someone's tail the alternative form of?
Lay salt on someone's tail is the alternative form of put salt on someone's tail.

Words near lay salt on someone's tail in the dictionary

  1. lay readers
  2. lay rector
  3. lay rectors
  4. lay rough
  5. lay rubber
  6. lay salt on someone's tail
  7. lay siege
  8. lay some skin on
  9. lay something at the door of
  10. lay something at the feet of
  11. lay speaker

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: lay salt on someone's tail (page history and authors); put salt on someone's 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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