Also squirrel’s tail.
1. The tail of a squirrel. In quot. collect.
c. 1400. Seuyn Sag. (W.), 2777. He let him make a garnement,… And heng, theron squirel taile, A thousand and mo, withouten fail.
2. A species of lob-worm. ? Obs.
Walton’s wording is repeated by later writers.
1653. Walton, Angler, 94. There be also of lob-worms, some called squirel-tails (a worm which has a red head, a streak down the back, and a broad tail).
1787. Best, Angling (ed. 2), 16.
1839. T. C. Hofland, Brit. Angler’s Man., ii. (1847), 9.
3. Squirrel-tail grass, one or other of various species of grasses belonging to the genus Hordeum.
1777. W. Curtis, Flora Lond. (1798), II. Pl. 23, We have been informed … that in the Isle of Thanet this grass [Hordeum murinum] is well known to the inn-keepers, who call it Squirrel-tail Grass.
1796. Withering, Brit. Pl. (ed. 3), II. 172. Hordeum maritimum. This is the true Squirrel-tail Grass of the Isle of Thanet, and not as Mr. Curtis says, the Hord. murinum.
1846–50. A. Wood, Class-bk. Bot., 620. Hordeum jubatum. Squirrel-tail Grass.
1851. Phytologist, IV. 10. Hordeum pratense.… In the Monckton meadows [near Ryde] … the herbage consists mainly of the ‘Squirrel-tail grass’ [etc.].
b. ellipt. = prec.
1796. Withering, Brit. Pl. (ed. 3), II. 172. The stunted habit of the true Squirrel-tail.
1899. Cumberland Gloss., 310/2. Squirrel’s tail, sea barley, Hordeum maritimum.
4. Zool. (See quot.)
1850. Miss Pratt, Comm. Things of Sea-side, iv. 250. Another [polyp] is called Squirrel’s Tail, (Sertularia argentea), because it is so like the tail of our woodland animal.
