TAILING

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does tailing mean? 

• TAILING (noun)
  The noun TAILING has 1 sense:

1. the act of following someone secretly

  Familiarity information: TAILING used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• TAILING (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The act of following someone secretly

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

shadowing; tailing

Hypernyms ("tailing" is a kind of...):

chase; following; pursual; pursuit (the act of pursuing in an effort to overtake or capture)

Derivation:

tail (go after with the intent to catch)

 Context examples 

One, tailing out behind the rest, was a lad that had gone from the hamlet to Dr. Livesey's; the rest were revenue officers, whom he had met by the way, and with whom he had had the intelligence to return at once.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

The most lay silent, but some muttered to themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)