'tailor herring' definitions:

Definition of 'tailor herring'

From: GCIDE
  • Tailor \Tai"lor\, n. [OF. tailleor, F. tailleur, fr. OF. taillier, F. tailler to cut, fr. L. talea a rod, stick, a cutting, layer for planting. Cf. Detail, Entail, Retail, Tally, n.]
  • 1. One whose occupation is to cut out and make men's garments; also, one who cuts out and makes ladies' outer garments. [1913 Webster]
  • Well said, good woman's tailor . . . I would thou wert a man's tailor. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
  • 2. (Zool.) (a) The mattowacca; -- called also tailor herring. (b) The silversides. [1913 Webster]
  • 3. (Zool.) The goldfish. [Prov. Eng.] [1913 Webster]
  • Salt-water tailor (Zool.), the bluefish. [Local, U. S.] --Bartlett.
  • Tailor bird (Zool.), any one of numerous species of small Asiatic and East Indian singing birds belonging to Orthotomus, Prinia, and allied genera. They are noted for the skill with which they sew leaves together to form nests. The common Indian species are {Orthotomus longicauda}, which has the back, scapulars, and upper tail coverts yellowish green, and the under parts white; and the golden-headed tailor bird (Orthotomus coronatus), which has the top of the head golden yellow and the back and wings pale olive-green. [1913 Webster]

Definition of 'tailor herring'

From: GCIDE
  • Fall \Fall\, n.
  • 1. The act of falling; a dropping or descending be the force of gravity; descent; as, a fall from a horse, or from the yard of ship. [1913 Webster]
  • 2. The act of dropping or tumbling from an erect posture; as, he was walking on ice, and had a fall. [1913 Webster]
  • 3. Death; destruction; overthrow; ruin. [1913 Webster]
  • They thy fall conspire. --Denham. [1913 Webster]
  • Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. --Prov. xvi. 18. [1913 Webster]
  • 4. Downfall; degradation; loss of greatness or office; termination of greatness, power, or dominion; ruin; overthrow; as, the fall of the Roman empire. [1913 Webster]
  • Beholds thee glorious only in thy fall. --Pope. [1913 Webster]
  • 5. The surrender of a besieged fortress or town; as, the fall of Sebastopol. [1913 Webster]
  • 6. Diminution or decrease in price or value; depreciation; as, the fall of prices; the fall of rents. [1913 Webster]
  • 7. A sinking of tone; cadence; as, the fall of the voice at the close of a sentence. [1913 Webster]
  • 8. Declivity; the descent of land or a hill; a slope. [1913 Webster]
  • 9. Descent of water; a cascade; a cataract; a rush of water down a precipice or steep; -- usually in the plural, sometimes in the singular; as, the falls of Niagara. [1913 Webster]
  • 10. The discharge of a river or current of water into the ocean, or into a lake or pond; as, the fall of the Po into the Gulf of Venice. --Addison. [1913 Webster]
  • 11. Extent of descent; the distance which anything falls; as, the water of a stream has a fall of five feet. [1913 Webster]
  • 12. The season when leaves fall from trees; autumn. [1913 Webster]
  • What crowds of patients the town doctor kills, Or how, last fall, he raised the weekly bills. --Dryden. [1913 Webster]
  • 13. That which falls; a falling; as, a fall of rain; a heavy fall of snow. [1913 Webster]
  • 14. The act of felling or cutting down. "The fall of timber." --Johnson. [1913 Webster]
  • 15. Lapse or declension from innocence or goodness. Specifically: The first apostasy; the act of our first parents in eating the forbidden fruit; also, the apostasy of the rebellious angels. [1913 Webster]
  • 16. Formerly, a kind of ruff or band for the neck; a falling band; a faule. --B. Jonson. [1913 Webster]
  • 17. That part (as one of the ropes) of a tackle to which the power is applied in hoisting. [1913 Webster]
  • Fall herring (Zool.), a herring of the Atlantic ({Clupea mediocris}); -- also called tailor herring, and {hickory shad}.
  • To try a fall, to try a bout at wrestling. --Shak. [1913 Webster]