[f. prec.] trans. To dock the tail of; fig. to cut short, shorten, curtail.
1577. Stanyhurst, Descr. Irel., in Holinshed, VI. 28. A noble man, having a surpassing good horse … did bobtaile him, least anie of his friends … should craue him.
a. 1680. Butler, Rem. (1759), II. 168. He is very just to the first Syllables of Words, but always bobtails the last.
a. 1700. Songs Costume (1849), 179. This Cloak … bobtayld the gown, Put prelacy down, And trod on the mitre to reach at the crown.
Hence Bob-tailed a. [f. vb. or sb.], with tail cut short; short-tailed.
1640. King & North. Man, 62, in Hazl., E. P. P., IV. 295. His bob-tailed dog he out did call.
1702. Lond. Gaz., No. 3850/4. A clubbed bob-tail’d black Mare.
1863. Hawthorne, Our Home, I. 19. The bob-tailed coat and mixed trousers constituted a very odd-looking court-dress.
