a, m. [Dan. hale, cp. Lat. cauda], a tail; kýr-hali, a cow’s tail; nauts-h., ljóns-h., etc.; skauf-hali, reynard, a fox, whence Skaufhala-bálkr, the name of an old poem, an Icel. Reineke Fuchs. Icel. use hali properly of cattle, and lions, wolves, bears; tagl of horses (of the hair, but stertr of a caudal vertebra); rófa of cats, dogs; skott of a fox; sporðr of a fish; stél or véli of birds; dyndill of seals. The old writers do not make these nice distinctions, and use hali of a horse and tagl of a cow, which a mod. Icel. would not do; hylr öll kykvendi hár eðr hali, Sks. 504: in Gþl. 398 of cattle, cp. N. G. L. i. 24; ef maðr höggr hala af hrossi svá at af rófu fylgir, Gþl. 399; ef maðr höggr hala af hrossi fyrir neðan rófu, id.; nú skerr maðr tagl af nautum, id.; eru þeir í málum mestir sem refr í halanum, Fms. viii. 350; ef maðr skerr af hrossi manns tögl, þá gjaldi aura þrjá; en ef hala höggr af, þá skal meta hross, N. G. L. i. 228; ok svá ef hann höggr hala af hrossi svá at rófa fylgir, id.: of a lion’s tail, Stj. 71.

2. phrases, nú er úlfs hali einn á króki, a wolf’s tail is all that is left, Band. (in a verse),—a proverb from the notion that wild beasts devour one another so that only the tail is left, cp. etask af ulfs-munni, vide eta: leika lausum hala, to play with a free tail, to be unrestrained, Ls. 50; veifask um lausum hala, id., Sturl. iii. 30; bretta halann, or bera brattan halann, to lift the tail, cock up the tail, to be vain or haughty, Hkv. Hjörv. 20; en ef eigi er unnit, þá muntú reyna hvárr halann sinn berr brattara þaðan í frá, Ísl. ii. 330; sé ek at þú heldr nokkru rakkara halanum en fyrir stundu áðan, Ölk. 36; draga halann, to drag the tail, sneak awav, play the coward; dregr melrakkinn eptir sér halann sinn nú—Svá er segir hann, at ek dreg eptir mér halann minn, ok berr ek lítt upp eðr ekki, en þess varir mik at þú dragir þinn hala mjök lengi áðr þú hefnir Halls bróður þíns, Ísl. ii. 329; sveigja halann, id., Hkv. Hjörv. 21; (cp. Ital. codardo, whence Engl. coward): spjóts-hali, the butt-end of a spear, Eg. 289, Ld. 132, Hkr. iii. 159; snældu-hali, a staff’s end.

II. metaph. a train, the rear of a host; skammr er orðinn hali okkarr, we have a short train, few followers, Sturl. (in a verse).

COMPDS: halaferð, halarófa, halastjarna, halatafl.

III. a nickname, Fb. iii.