swallowtail

[ swol-oh-teyl ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

noun

the tail of a swallow or a deeply forked tail like that of a swallow.
any of several butterflies of the genus Papilio, characterized by elongated hindwings that resemble the tail of a swallow, such as P. polyxenes black swallowtail. Compare spicebush swallowtail, tiger swallowtail, zebra swallowtail.
tailcoat ( def ).

swallowtail

/ ˈswɒləʊˌteɪl /

any of various butterflies of the genus Papilio and related genera, esp P. machaon of Europe, having a tail-like extension of each hind wing: family Papilionidae
the forked tail of a swallow or similar bird
short for swallow-tailed coat

Discover More

First recorded in 1535–45; swallow ² + tail ¹

Discover More

Testers found the high ankle swallowtail feature to be a bit extraneous, though the heel cup does hold the foot in place.

Chotard studies the wings of swallowtail butterflies at the National Museum of Natural History in Paris.

The biologists made the fake insects by gluing real swallowtail wings to a cardboard body.

Chotard and her colleagues also measured how much force was needed to tear various sections of the swallowtail wing.

Among the collected swallowtails, 65, or 47 percent, had damaged wings, all of which had at least one tail damaged.

But her thoughts constantly reverted to "Old Swallowtail" and to Ingua.

"If the land brought a fair price, Old Swallowtail ought to be rich," remarked the girl.

Two or three times she had passed Old Swallowtail on the street, but he had not seemed to notice her.

The sight of one swallowtail butterfly, a big black and yellow fellow, sent the cook insane.

None of us possessed evening suits and some of us went so far as to denounce swallowtail coats as "undemocratic."

Browse