tailspin en · NOUN
Etymology
From tail + spin.
Meanings
-
The rapid, uncontrollable descent of an aircraft in a steep spiral.
The loss of the third engine threw the plane into a tailspin.
-
(figuratively) A severe mental or emotional collapse; emotional breakdown.
Just hours after leaving the institution, she suffered another tailspin.
-
(figuratively) Any sharp, sustained, often uncontrollable descent or decline.
The present stock tailspin proves bankruptcy is imminent.
But I was reading a statement that either you made or was part of your movie, “An Inconvenient Truth”, and it said we have just 10 years to avert a major catastrophe that could send our entire planet into a tailspin of epic destruction involving extreme weather, floods, droughts, epidemics and killer heat waves beyond anything we have ever experienced.
2007, Perspectives on climate change, Washington : U.S. G.P.O., →ISBN, page 49:St. Louis, the fourth-largest U.S. city in 1900, is fading fast […] . Jobs, and airline, an educated population—all gone or in a tailspin.
2010 September, Chris Sommers, "Merge", St. Louis magazine, ISSN 1090-5723, volume 16, issue 9, page 77
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| tailspins | Number=Plur | lexicographic |
Translations (7)
ja 錐揉み (The rapid, uncontrollable descent of an aircraft in a steep spiral) · ru што́пор (The rapid, uncontrollable descent of an aircraft in a steep spiral) · pl korkociąg (The rapid, uncontrollable descent of an aircraft in a steep spiral) · fr chute libre (Any sharp, sustained, often uncontrollable descent or decline) · fi romahdus (A severe mental or emotional collapse; emotional breakdown) · fr vrille (The rapid, uncontrollable descent of an aircraft in a steep spiral) · fi romahdus (Any sharp, sustained, often uncontrollable descent or decline)