tailpipe

noun

tail·​pipe ˈtāl-ˌpīp 

: an outlet by which engine exhaust gases are expelled from a vehicle (such as an automobile or jet aircraft)

Example Sentences

Recent Examples on the Web

Emmylou Harris once said Ms. Williams could sing the chrome off a tailpipe. —Penelope Green, New York Times, 14 Apr. 2023

And put a potato in her tailpipe. —Alyssa Brandt, The New Yorker, 6 Mar. 2023

Will County, southwest of Chicago, in which Joliet sits, has reported a sharp increase in tailpipe emissions over the past decade, after seeing a boom in freight employment. —Vivienne Walt, Fortune, 13 Apr. 2023

On April 10, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is expected to propose new rules limiting tailpipe emissions from automobiles. —Michelle Cheng, Quartz, 10 Apr. 2023

The transportation sector is the country’s biggest source of planet-warming gases, and Detroit and President Biden have often aligned on boosting the sales of EVs — which have no tailpipe emissions — as their fastest way to address climate change. —Timothy Puko, Washington Post, 9 Apr. 2023

But to do that, experts at the E.P.A. laboratory have to first determine how much electric vehicle technology is likely to advance in the next decade, to help the agency set the strongest tailpipe emissions limits that are still achievable. —Coral Davenport, New York Times, 7 Apr. 2023

The announcement came as advocates are pushing for more ambitious tailpipe emissions standards in other states and at the national level. —Sophie Austin, Anchorage Daily News, 31 Mar. 2023

Ports are larger and smoother, valves are bigger in diameter, and all passages from the cold-air intake to the tip of the tailpipe now have the capacity to draw in 43 percent more airflow and exhaust 83 percent more spent gas. —Don Sherman, Car and Driver, 8 Mar. 2023

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Word History

First Known Use

1922, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

tail pipe

noun

: an outlet by which engine exhaust gases are expelled from a vehicle (as an automobile or jet aircraft)