shirttail

[shurt-teyl] /ˈʃɜrtˌteɪl/

noun

the part of a shirt below the waistline.

Journalism. a brief item added at the end of a related newspaper story.

Compare follow-up (def 3b).

adjective

quite young and immature in behavior.

Chiefly Midland and Southern U.S. of distant relation, especially by marriage:

some shirttail cousins I'd never met.

verb (used with object)

Informal. to append or add (an item) to a discussion or writing:

The tariff concessions were shirttailed onto the trade bill.

Origin

1835-45, Americanism; shirt + tail¹

Examples from the web for shirttail

In all cases, the shirttail shall be tucked into the waistband of the trousers.
The shirttail should be tucked into the trouser and the trouser should cover the boot tops.

Slang definitions & phrases for shirttail

shirttail

adjective

Impoverished; mean; paltry: My brother and I had a pretty shirttail existence as kids (1929+)

noun

An editorial column: The boss blurbed the story in his shirttail (1944+ Newspaper office)

[both senses depend on the shirttail being a short appendage to a shirt; the first sense derives fr the shortness, hence meagerness; the second fr the appendedness, the editor's personal addition]