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Tailgate is an American English
American English

PhonologyIn many ways, compared to English language in England, North American English is conservative in its phonology. Some distinctive accents can be found on the East Coast of the United States , partly because these areas were in contact with England, and imitated prestigious varieties of English English at a time when those varieties we...
 word denoting the door or 'gate' at the back of a wagon
Station wagon

A station wagon in American English, Australian English, Canadian English and New Zealand English usage and an estate car in British English usage, is a passenger automobile with a car body style similar to a sedan but with the roofline following the full, sometimes extended rear cargo area, i.e. ending with a more vertical door...
, pickup truck
Pickup truck

A pickup truck is a light motor vehicle with an open-top rear cargo area which is almost always separated from the cab to allow for chassis flex when carrying or pulling heavy loads....
, SUV or other similar type of vehicle
Vehicle

Vehicles, derived from the Latin word, vehiculum, are non-living means of transport. Most often they are manufactured , although some other means of transport which are not made by humans also may be called vehicles; examples include icebergs and floating tree trunks....
 that is hinged at the bottom and can be opened for the convenience in loading cargo into the rear of the vehicle.






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Woman At A Tailgate Party for A Ut Football Game
Tailgate is an American English
American English

PhonologyIn many ways, compared to English language in England, North American English is conservative in its phonology. Some distinctive accents can be found on the East Coast of the United States , partly because these areas were in contact with England, and imitated prestigious varieties of English English at a time when those varieties we...
 word denoting the door or 'gate' at the back of a wagon
Station wagon

A station wagon in American English, Australian English, Canadian English and New Zealand English usage and an estate car in British English usage, is a passenger automobile with a car body style similar to a sedan but with the roofline following the full, sometimes extended rear cargo area, i.e. ending with a more vertical door...
, pickup truck
Pickup truck

A pickup truck is a light motor vehicle with an open-top rear cargo area which is almost always separated from the cab to allow for chassis flex when carrying or pulling heavy loads....
, SUV or other similar type of vehicle
Vehicle

Vehicles, derived from the Latin word, vehiculum, are non-living means of transport. Most often they are manufactured , although some other means of transport which are not made by humans also may be called vehicles; examples include icebergs and floating tree trunks....
 that is hinged at the bottom and can be opened for the convenience in loading cargo into the rear of the vehicle. A similar vehicular feature, the hatch
Hatch

Hatch may refer to:* Hatching, also called "cross-hatching", an artistic technique used to create tonal or shading effects using closely spaced parallel lines...
, hatchback
Hatchback

Hatchback is a term designating an automobile design, containing a passenger cabin with an integrated cargo space, accessed from behind the vehicle by a single, top-hinged tailgate or large flip-up window....
 or liftgate
Liftgate

A liftgate, also called a hatch or hatchback, or "Tommy lift" or "Tommy gate", is a closure at the rear of a vehicle that can be mechanically raised during loading and unloading of heavy cargo....
, is a door at the back of a vehicle that is hinged at the top and opens upward. In modern usage, the word tailgate may refer to a true tailgate, a hatchback or a lateral opening door (hinged on the left or right side) in the back of a pickup truck, wagon or SUV.

In British English
British English

British English or UK English is the broad term used to distinguish the forms of the English language used in the United Kingdom from forms used elsewhere....
, the tailgate, sometimes called the hatch, is a door
Door

A door is a moveable barrier used to cover an opening. Doors are used widely and are found in walls or partitions of a building or space, furniture such as cupboards, cage s, vehicles, and containers....
 on the back of a vehicle that can be moved either up or down, such as on a pickup truck
Pickup truck

A pickup truck is a light motor vehicle with an open-top rear cargo area which is almost always separated from the cab to allow for chassis flex when carrying or pulling heavy loads....
 or hatchback
Hatchback

Hatchback is a term designating an automobile design, containing a passenger cabin with an integrated cargo space, accessed from behind the vehicle by a single, top-hinged tailgate or large flip-up window....
.

The verb to tailgate
Tailgating

Tailgating is the practice of driving on a road too closely behind another vehicle, such as less than the Two-second rule or, equivalently, one vehicle-length for every 8 km/h of the current speed....
 refers to the practice of driving closely behind the rear fender of a preceding vehicle. In some municipalities in the United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
, this action is illegal and punishable by fine. When not driving, the term also refers to closely following someone, such as through a door or gate, where individual passes maybe required. Such practice is commonly banned as evident in the picture on the right.

The term tailgate party
Tailgate party

In North America, a tailgate party, also known as The Last American Neighborhood, is a social event held on and around the open tailgate of a automobile....
 refers to the practice of engaging in a social drinking and/or eating event that is based out of the back of one's truck, wagon or SUV. Tailgate parties have become popular in the United States as social gatherings events that take place in stadium parking lots before football
American football

American football, known in the United States and Canada simply as football, is a competitive team sport known for mixing strategy with physical play....
 games. The use of the tailgate party has spread to the pre-game festivities at sporting events of all kinds (e.g. baseball
Baseball

Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport of nine players each. The goal of baseball is to score run by hitting a thrown Baseball with a baseball bat and touching a series of four markers called base arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot square, or diamond. Players on one team take turns hitting against...
 and soccer) and is also used at non-sporting events such as non-sports-related barbecue
Barbecue

Barbecue or barbeque is a method and apparatus for cooking food, often meat, with the heat and hot gases of a fire, smoking wood, or hot coals of charcoal and may include application of a marinade, spice rub, or Basting barbecue sauce to the meat....
 gatherings. Tailgates can also be furnished with additional accessories like a "Pocket" for storage purposes etc.

See also

  • 3-way tailgate
    3-way tailgate

    A 3-way tailgate is a tailgate on a station wagon than can be opened in the following three ways:# opened sideways like a door# upwards# downwards like a gate...