HIGHTAIL Definition & Meaning

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hightail

[ hahy-teyl ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

verb (used without object)

Informal.

to go away or leave rapidly:
Last we saw of him, he was hightailing down the street.

hightail

/ ˈ��ɪˌ�ٱ�ɪ�� /

verb

informal.
intr to go or move in a great hurry Alsohightail it

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51�Թ� History and Origins

Origin of hightail¹

An Americanism dating back to 1885–90; high + tail ¹, in reference to the raised tails of fleeing animals, as deer or rabbits

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Idioms and Phrases

hightail it, Informal. hurry; rush; scamper:
Hightail it down to the grocery store and buy some bread for lunch.

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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

McCartney happened to be visiting Lennon in New York at the time and they briefly considered shocking the world by hightailing it down to Rockefeller Center, but the idea was abandoned.

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Set on exacting retribution, Doll hightails it back to his home in Los Angeles to even the score with the real murderer and the cartel’s bagman, all while keeping nominally true to Buddhist principles.

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In most cases, drivers might hightail it out of there.

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Eventually, Berkoff couldn’t stand it any longer and, in a fury hightailed it to LAX in a rental car that bore the dents of his anger, leaving the production without a Goldberg.

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I turned down the film, broke up with John and hightailed it out of town.

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

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