tailhook
noun
tail·hook
ˈtāl-ˌhu̇k 
variants
or tail hook
: a retractable hook on the underside of the tail of a carrier-based airplane extended in landing to engage an arresting-gear cable on the deck of the carrier
Examples of tailhook in a Sentence
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After appealing to the base chaplain during basic training for a transfer to a less perilous job than catching the tailhook of planes landing on an aircraft carrier, he was assigned as a journalist to the Navy News Service in Vietnam.
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Sam Roberts, New York Times, 15 Nov. 2023
Those processes have been upgraded: the new launcher is much faster, and the deployable tailhook has been replaced with a tiny metal hook on the back of the drone's tail boom.
—IEEE Spectrum, 3 Apr. 2018
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Sam Roberts, New York Times, 15 Nov. 2023
Those processes have been upgraded: the new launcher is much faster, and the deployable tailhook has been replaced with a tiny metal hook on the back of the drone's tail boom.
—IEEE Spectrum, 3 Apr. 2018
Cite this Entry
“Tailhook.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tailhook. Accessed 30 Oct. 2025.
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