tailer

Noun

tailer (plural tailers)

1. One who follows or tails surreptitiously, as an investigator.
   • I had to concentrate on staying out of sight, yet close enough not to be stranded on the wrong side of a stoplight. I was working so hard at it that I didn't notice that the tailer had become the tailee.1986, Frederick D. Huebner, The Joshua Sequence, page 116
   • When the car entered the traffic circle I followed after it, the tailed now tailing the tailer. The car's occupants, sure now that they'd been spotted, sped off ahead of me along Dodgers Hole Road.2003, Philip R. Craig, A Vineyard Killing, page 74
2. A worker on a yacht, responsible for furling and setting the sails.
   • The next step was the invention of the self-tailing device, whereby the need for a tailer, holding the sheet or halyard while another person operated the winch, was eliminated.2000, Dave Cox, The Sailing Handbook
3. A large noose with a long handle intended to secure a fish's tail.
4. A fish bottom-feeding in shallow water with its tail out of the water.