tentacle

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ten·ta·cle

(tĕn′tə-kəl)

1. Zoology

a. An elongated flexible unsegmented extension, as one of those surrounding the mouth of a sea anemone, used for feeling, grasping, or locomotion.

b. One of these structures in a cephalopod, typically being retractile and having a clublike end usually with suckers or hooks, in contrast to an arm, which is nonretractile and typically has suckers along the underside.

2. Botany One of the sensitive hairs on the leaves of certain insectivorous plants, such as a sundew.

3. A similar part or extension, especially with respect to the ability to grasp or stretch: an espionage network with far-reaching tentacles.

[New Latin tentāculum, from Latin tentāre, to feel, try; see tentative.]

ten·tac′u·lar (-tăk′yə-lər) adj.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

tentacle

(ˈtɛntəkəl)

1. (Zoology) any of various elongated flexible organs that occur near the mouth in many invertebrates and are used for feeding, grasping, etc

2. (Botany) any of the hairs on the leaf of an insectivorous plant that are used to capture prey

3. something resembling a tentacle, esp in its ability to reach out or grasp

[C18: from New Latin tentāculum, from Latin tentāre, variant of temptāre to feel]

ˈtentacled adj

ˈtentacle-ˌlike, tentaculoid adj

tentacular adj

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

ten•ta•cle

(ˈtɛn tə kəl)

n.

1. any of various slender, flexible processes or appendages in animals, esp. invertebrates, that serve as organs of touch, prehension, etc.; feeler.

2. a sensitive filament or hair on a plant, as one of the hairs of the sundew.

[1755–65; < New Latin tentāculum= Latin tentā(re), variant of temptāre to feel, probe + -culum -cle²]

ten′ta•cled, adj.

ten•tac′u•lar (-ˈtæk yə lər) adj.

ten·ta·cle

(tĕn′tə-kəl)

A narrow, flexible, unjointed part extending from the body of certain animals, such as an octopus, jellyfish, and sea anemone. Tentacles are used for feeling, grasping, or moving.

The American Heritage® Student Science Dictionary, Second Edition. Copyright © 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

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Noun	1.	tentacle - something that acts like a tentacle in its ability to grasp and hold; "caught in the tentacles of organized crime" grasp, grip - an intellectual hold or understanding; "a good grip on French history"; "they kept a firm grip on the two top priorities"; "he was in the grip of a powerful emotion"; "a terrible power had her in its grasp"
	2.	tentacle - any of various elongated tactile or prehensile flexible organs that occur on the head or near the mouth in many animals; used for feeling or grasping or locomotion feeler, antenna - one of a pair of mobile appendages on the head of e.g. insects and crustaceans; typically sensitive to touch and taste barbel, feeler - slender tactile process on the jaws of a fish appendage, outgrowth, process - a natural prolongation or projection from a part of an organism either animal or plant; "a bony process"

Translations

مِجَس، ذِراع

пипало

tentacle

chapadlotykadlo

fangarmtentakel

lonkero

griparmur

čiuptuvas

tausteklis

chápadlo

dokunaçtentakül

触角

tentacle

[ˈtentəkl] N → tentáculo m

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

tentacle

[ˈtɛntək^əl] n [octopus] → tentacule m

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

tentacle

n (Zool) → Tentakel m or nt (spec); (of octopus etc also) → Fangarm m; (of snail also) → Fühler m; (fig) → Klaue f

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

tentacle

[ˈtɛntəkl] n → tentacolo

tentacle

(ˈtentəkl) noun

a long, thin, flexible arm-like or horn-like part of an animal, used to feel, grasp etc. An octopus has eight tentacles.

References in classic literature ?

I half turned, keeping my eyes fixed upon the cylinder still, from which other tentacles were now projecting, and began pushing my way back from the edge of the pit.

The peculiar V-shaped mouth with its pointed upper lip, the absence of brow ridges, the absence of a chin beneath the wedgelike lower lip, the incessant quivering of this mouth, the Gorgon groups of tentacles, the tumultuous breathing of the lungs in a strange atmosphere, the evident heaviness and painfulness of movement due to the greater gravitational energy of the earth--above all, the extraordinary intensity of the immense eyes--were at once vital, intense, inhuman, crippled and monstrous.

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Then came rows of two-storied villas each with a fronting of miniature garden, and then again interminable lines of new staring brick buildings,--the monster tentacles which the giant city was throwing out into the country.

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"Do you see this thing?" and he extended what appeared to be a bundle of tentacles from the posterior part of his head.

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First it was her arms that wound themselves about my neck, long, sinuous, and supple as the tentacles of some vile monster; then, as I struggled, her thumbs were on my windpipe like pads of steel.

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He saw the sandy bottom covered with shells, a rock with tentacles of seaweed floating from it, several huge crabs, a multitude of small fishes.

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It was the tire of a brilliant wheel, an asteria enclosing the disc with its silver tentacles, an enormous eye filled with flames, a glory carved for Pluto's head, a star launched by the Creator's hand, and crushed against the face of the moon!

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With the squid-stick, bluntly sharp at both ends, perhaps a foot long, and held crosswise in the hand, the trick was to gouge any lazying squid until he closed his tentacles around fist, stick and arm.--Then you had him, and came to the surface with him, and hit him in the head which is in the centre of him, and peeled him off into the waiting canoe.

"Why, I've pulled out a squid with tentacles eight feet long, and done it under fifty feet of water.

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Then I felt other soft little tentacles upon my back and shoulders.

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Anemones are the novel's central symbolic touchstone and a spiritual force majeure; hence, during his transition, the touch of the stolen anemone's tentacles initiates Acilde into Santeria, to be renamed; "Omo Olokun: one who knows what lies at the bottom of the sea ...

Armed

A 520-million-year-old fossil of a sea creature with 18 tentacles around its mouth was found in China.