tail between one's legs en · X
Pronunciation
- (Australia) audio
Etymology
From the body posture of a dog that is worried or frightened.
Meanings
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Defeated; in a cowardly or miserable manner.
After 11 seasons set in Seattle[…] Frasier is returning to Boston, to reconquer his old Cheers-era stomping ground. “He left with his tail between his legs a little bit,” Grammer said in a recent interview.
2023 February 27, Elle Hunt, quoting Kelsey Grammer, “‘Don’t make Frasier best friends with Elon Musk!’ Writers and comics offer their reboot tips”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:He came back home, tail between his legs.
He [John du Lys] told the city fathers that Charles VII had promised him a hundred livres but the Royal Treasurer, either misinformed or dishonest, had given him only twenty; so he was requesting the balance of eighty from the municipality. He got only twelve, and went off with his tail between his legs.
1973, Henri Guillemin, translated by Harold J. Salemson, “Recertification”, in Joan, Maid of Orléans, New York, N.Y.: Saturday Review Press, →ISBN, page 223:"I wouldn't do that," said Mrs. MacAndrew. "I'd give him all the rope he wants. He'll come back with his tail between his legs and settle down again quite comfortably."
1919, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, chapter XV, in The Moon and Sixpence, [New York, N.Y.]: Grosset & Dunlap Publishers […], →OCLC:
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Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see tail, between, one's, legs.
Oft haue I ſeene a hot ore-weening Curre / Run backe and bite, becauſe he was with-held, / Who being ſuffer'd with the Beares fell paw, / Hath clapt his taile, between his legges and cride,
1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i], page 144:
Translations (22)
pt meter o rabo entre as pernas (defeated; in a cowardly or miserable manner) · ru поджа́в хвост (defeated; in a cowardly or miserable manner) · fi häntä koipien välissä (defeated; in a cowardly or miserable manner) · th หางจุกตูด (defeated; in a cowardly or miserable manner) · sh podvijenog repa (defeated; in a cowardly or miserable manner) · sv med svansen mellan benen (defeated; in a cowardly or miserable manner) · sh podviti rep (defeated; in a cowardly or miserable manner) · nl de staart tussen de benen (defeated; in a cowardly or miserable manner) · tl bahag ang buntot (defeated; in a cowardly or miserable manner) · sh подвити реп (defeated; in a cowardly or miserable manner) · pl z podwiniętym ogonem (defeated; in a cowardly or miserable manner) · mk со подвиена опашка (defeated; in a cowardly or miserable manner) · he זְנָבוֹ בֵּין רַגְלָיו (defeated; in a cowardly or miserable manner) · sh подвијеног репа (defeated; in a cowardly or miserable manner) · es con la cola entre las patas (defeated; in a cowardly or miserable manner) · pt com o rabo entre as pernas (defeated; in a cowardly or miserable manner) · es con la cola entre las piernas (defeated; in a cowardly or miserable manner) · pl z uszami spuszczonymi po sobie (defeated; in a cowardly or miserable manner) · es con el rabo entre las patas (defeated; in a cowardly or miserable manner) · es con el rabo entre las piernas (defeated; in a cowardly or miserable manner) · fr la queue entre les jambes (defeated; in a cowardly or miserable manner) · ka კუდამოძუებული (defeated; in a cowardly or miserable manner)