curly tail
- noun
- My friend has a cat with a fluffy coat and a curly tail that curls up over its back.
Examples
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Just a little black dog with a curly tail.
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They have those cute little curly tails.
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I hate their cute little curly tails.
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You know, round things with curly tails.
Academic text (1997) -
Four legs, a snout and a curly tail.
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That's how the pig got a curly tail.
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They also look like they are "smiling" and have cute curly tails (like piglets).
Blog text (1) -
I dreamed one night he had the curly tail of a pig; another night he had a monstrously sized head like the Elephant Man, and a humongous penis, as if he had the procreating powers of the devil himself.
Fiction book (1991) -
The hogs still lay happily in the morning sun, wagging their curly tails in contentment; winking and blinking sleepily as if they were not living out their last hour on earth.
Fiction book (1992) -
The little puppy wagged his curly tail as he played in the garden.
Synonyms
The rear part of an animal or object that sticks out at the end
How Curly
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a tail that has a natural curve or forms a spiral shape' is directly and transparently derived from combining 'curly' (having curls or waves) with 'tail' (an animal's rear appendage). This is a straightforward adjectival modification following common noun phrase composition and would be clear to a B1 learner who knows both constituent words.
Etymology
The phrase curly tail comes from the simple image of an animal's tail that is naturally curly, like a small spiral on a pig or puppy. That's why it means 'a tail that has a natural curve or forms a spiral shape'.