Main Entry: ten·ta·cle

Pronunciation: \ˈten-ti-kəl\

Function: noun

Etymology: New Latin tentaculum, from Latin tentare to feel, touch — more at tempt

Date: circa 1762

1 : any of various elongate flexible usually tactile or prehensile processes borne by animals and especially invertebrates chiefly on the head or about the mouth
2 a : something that resembles a tentacle especially in or as if in grasping or feeling out <corruption spreading its tentacles> b : a sensitive hair or emergence on a plant (as the sundew)

— ten·ta·cled \-kəld\ adjective