tail between one's legs

[tail between one's legs] {n. phr.}

State of feeling beaten, ashamed, or very obedient, as after a scolding or a whipping.

* /The army sent the enemy home with their tails between their legs./

* /The boys on the team had boasted they would win the tournament, but they went home with their tails between their legs./

(So called because a beaten dog usually puts his tail down between his legs and slinks away.)

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Source: A Dictionary of American Idioms


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