bobtail

(From bob, in the sense of cut). Cut tail, short tail.--Johnson.

Avaunt, you curs!

Be thy mouth or black or white,

Or bobtail tike, or trundle tail,

Tom will make him weep or wail.

Shakspeare, King Lear.

Bobtail
·adj <<Bobtailed>>. II. Bobtail ·noun An animal (as a horse or dog) with a short tail. ...

Webster's Dictionary of the English Language
tagrag-and-bobtail
n. a species of sea-weed.See quotation. 1866. S. Hannaford, `Wild Flowers of Tasmania,' p. 80: «I...

Dictionary of Australasian Words Phrases and Usages by Edward E. Morris
tag-rag and bobtail
An expression meaning an assemblage of low people, the mobility of all sorts. To tag after one like ...

Dictionary of The Vulgar Tongue by Francis Grose