tentacle

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English

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English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Etymology

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From New Latin tentāculum, from tentō. Doublet of tentaculum.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ˈtɛntəkəl/, /ˈtɛntɪkəl/
  • Audio (US):(file)

Noun

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tentacle (plural tentacles)

  1. (zoology) An elongated, boneless, flexible organ or limb of some animals, such as the octopus and squid.
  2. (botany) One of the glandular hairs on the leaves of certain insectivorous plants.
  3. (figurative) An insidious reach or influence.
    the tentacles of the criminal underworld
  4. (figurative) Something like a zoological limb.
    • 1948 January and February, C. R. L. Coles, “The Grouping Era”, in Railway Magazine, page 21:
      New extensions into the outer London dormitory areas also have been constructed, and at the present moment the tentacles of London's Underground are slowly but surely extending eastwards into Essex to relieve congestion on the suburban lines of the former Great Eastern Railway.
  5. (UK, military, historical) An officer employed to drive out to troops and transmit back requests for support via a special radio link.
    • 2013, Dr Ian Gooderson, Air Power at the Battlefront, page 26:
      A joint RAF/Army staffed Air Support Control (ASC) headquarters was established at each army corps and each armoured division, linked to the forward brigades by a 'tentacle' equipped with two-way wireless telegraphy.

Synonyms

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Derived terms

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Translations

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Verb

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tentacle (third-person singular simple present tentacles, present participle tentacling, simple past and past participle tentacled)

  1. to move like a tentacle

Anagrams

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Catalan

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Pronunciation

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Noun

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tentacle m (plural tentacles)

  1. tentacle
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Further reading

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