taillight

nounC1Very rare — outside the 30,000 commonest English words, so you will meet it in writing rather than in speechleans spoken

Other forms: taillights

A taillight is the red lamp at the back of a car. On whenever the headlights are, and brighter when you brake.

The red colour is legally required and universal, since the whole point is that a driver behind must know instantly which way a vehicle is facing. Brake lights are separate and brighter, and indicators are amber. A blown taillight is one of the commonest reasons for being stopped by police, which is why checking them is worth two minutes. British English also says rear light.

Definitions of taillight

1nountaillightA red light at the rear of a vehicle.C1
“One taillight had been out for weeks.”

Also accepted in games: tail light, rear light

Where it comes from

From tail + light.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in A Man Called Ove

First appears in chapter 27 of A Man Called Ove.

Practise this word

taillight in the wild

In 2010, the Passion underwent changes to the taillight and instrument console.
Hero Passion
The taillight shark (Euprotomicroides zantedeschia) is a little-known species of shark in the family Dalatiidae and the only member of its genus.
Taillight shark
Frenching is the act of recessing or moulding a headlight, taillight, antenna or number plate into a car body to give a smoother look to the vehicle.
Frenching (automobile)
Many of the Tube Car's features made it to the Aurora, such as its round shape, frameless windows, front fascia, and full-width taillight.
Oldsmobile Tube Car
The taillight shiner (Notropis maculatus) is a species of freshwater ray-finned fish in the family Leuciscidae, the shiners, daces and minnows.
Taillight shiner

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

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