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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Tentacle \Ten"ta*cle\, noun [NL. tentaculum, from L. tentare to handle, feel: cf. F. tentacule. See {Tempt}.] (Zo["o]l.) A more or less elongated process or organ, simple or branched, proceeding from the head or cephalic region of invertebrate animals, being either an organ of sense, prehension, or motion.
{Tentacle sheath} (Zo["o]l.), a sheathlike structure around the base of the tentacles of many mollusks.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
tentacle
noun
1: something that acts like a tentacle in its ability to grasp; "caught in the tentacles of organized crime"
2: 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
From Jargon File (4.3.1, 29 Jun 2001) [jargon]:
tentacle n. A covert {pseudo}, sense
1. An artificial identity created in cyberspace for nefarious and deceptive purposes. The implication is that a single person may have multiple tentacles. This term was originally floated in some paranoid ravings on the cypherpunks list (see {cypherpunk}), and adopted in a spirit of irony by other, saner members. It has since shown up, used seriously, in the documentation for some remailer software, and is now (1994) widely recognized on the net.
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Definitions retrieved from local copies of the freely distributed DICT client/server software and databases. Click here for database copyright information. - KM |