Emily Dickinson Lexicon

TAIL, n.² [Fr. tailler, Sp. tallar, It. tagliare, Port. talhar, Ir. tallam, to cut off; W. toli, to curtail, to separate, to deal out, from tawl, a sending or throwing, a cast or throw, a separation, diminution, interruption. This is from the same root as deal. Class Dl, No. 15. See Deal.]

In law, an estate in tail is a limited fee; an estate limited to certain heirs, and from which the other heirs are precluded. Estates tail are general or special; general, where lands and tenements are given to one, and to the heirs of his body begotten; special, where the gift is restrained to certain heirs of the donee's body, as to his heirs by a particular woman named. [See Entail.] Blackstone.