to tail
- verb
- /teɪl/
- Suddenly, Jimmy spots two FBI men who had been tailing him, dozing in their unmarked car.
You used to want a tail or you used to want to tail.
- You used to want a tail or you used to want to tail.
Examples
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The detective decided to tail the suspect to gather more evidence about his activities.
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You've been tailing me for the past 15 minutes.
-
Just tail her home from the library.
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It's not easy driving a truck slow enough to tail a boy on a bike.
Fiction book (1993) -
Guys tailing him to the bathroom.
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Yeah, he heard we were lab partners, so he's having me tail you and find out what I can.
-
-Shaw, we have three cars tailing us.
-
- He was tailing a guy named Thursby.
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Everyone had realized that Amari and his surveillance squad had tailed the targets after the drops.
Fiction book (1999) -
She agreed to tail her friend during the concert to ensure she didn't get lost in the crowd.
Synonyms
To follow where a person or thing goes
Try to get something you want or follow someone to catch them
To secretly watch someone to see what they do
Follow someone closely to try to catch them
To follow someone closely and secretly to watch what they do
To follow someone closely and keep causing them trouble
Following someone to try to catch them
Antonyms
Idioms
Phrasal Verbs
Compounds
- UK
A tall marsh plant with a brown sausage-shaped seed head and long flat leaves used for making mats and seats
- Specialized
A small spinning blade at the tail of a helicopter that keeps it from spinning
- Specialized
A market where many rare items, each sold in small numbers, together make a large part of sales
- Specialized
A vertical surface at the plane's tail that helps keep it steady in flight
A small brown and white moth whose caterpillars eat the leaves of fruit and shade trees
- Specialized
A large animal with sharp spines and a brush of stiff hairs at the end of its tail
- Specialized
A group of herbs that have a strong smell and live for many years
- Specialized
A flat surface at the tail of a plane that keeps the nose level and controls up-and-down movement
- Specialized
A thin metal tool with a round taper used to smooth small round holes and curves
- UK
A small brown tree shrew from Malaysia with a bare tail fringed by stiff hairs at the tip
- Specialized
A tail design for an aircraft with four moving parts in an X shape that help control its direction
How Close
Surface Forms
Etymology
The verb tail comes from the same image of staying at someone's back like a tail, so to tail someone is to follow them closely and secretly.