curtal
/ˈkəːtəl/ noun, adjective
Forms curtals
- noun (historical) A variety of short-barrelled cannon.
- noun (music) An early type of bassoon.
- noun (obsolete) A horse or other animal having a docked tail.
- noun (obsolete) Anything docked or cut short.
- adjective (obsolete) Of horses, having a docked tail.
- adjective (now rare) Physically shortened; short.
- adjective (obsolete) Abridged, curtailed.
Etymology
From older French courtault (modern French courtaud), from court (“short”) + -ault (pejorative suffix).
Webster’s 1913
Etymology [OF. courtault, F. courtaud, having a docked tail (cf. It. cortaldo), fr. court short, L. curtus. See Curt, and Curtail.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “curtal”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details