英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

cat-o'-nine-tails (n.)[cat-o'-nine-tails 词源字典]: 1690s, probably so called in reference to its "claws." It was a legal instrument of punishment in British Navy until 1881.[cat-o'-nine-tails etymology, cat-o'-nine-tails origin, 英语词源]
coattails (n.): also coat-tail, c. 1600, from coat (n.) + tail (n.). In 17c., to do something on one's own coattail meant "at one's own expense. Meaning "power of one person," especially in politics, is from 1848 (in a Congressional speech by Abraham Lincoln, in reference to Andrew Jackson); expression riding (someone's) coattails into political office is from 1949.
tailspin (n.): "downward spiraling dive of an aircraft," 1916, from tail (n.1) + spin (n.). Figurative sense of "state of loss of control" is from 1928.