rat-tail

[ rat-teyl ]

/ ˈrætˌteɪl /

Origin of rat-tail

First recorded in 1695–1705

The rat-tail, which extended down the back of the bowl, was shortened into a drop.

Home Life in Colonial Days |Alice Morse Earle
The rat-tail file he was carrying was driven into his side, making a wound from which he died in two hours.

The Naval History of the United States |Willis J. Abbot.
It looks like a rat-tail file, but smokes better, some think.

What Is Man? And Other Stories |Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens)
It was laconic, but it sounded like a rat-tail file on steel.

The Skipper and the Skipped |Holman Day

Sometimes the rat-tail was shaped like a long V and grooved, while on each side were elaborate scrolls.

The Wonder Book of Knowledge |Various

rat-tail

another name for grenadier (def. 2)

a style of spoon in which the line of the handle is prolonged in a tapering moulding along the back of the bowl

a kind of woodworking or metalworking file