tentacle

Etymology

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

noun

1. (zoology) An elongated, boneless, flexible organ or limb of some animals, such as the octopus and squid.
   1897, H. G. Wells, The Crystal Egg The body was small, but fitted with two bunches of prehensile organs, like long tentacles, immediately under the mouth.
   1936, H. P. Lovecraft, The Shadow Out of Time Surmounting this head were four slender grey stalks bearing flower-like appendages, whilst from its nether side dangled eight greenish antennae or tentacles.
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.
   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. 1948 January and February, C. R. L. Coles, “The Grouping Era”, in Railway Magazine, page 21
5. (UK, military, historical) An officer employed to drive out to troops and transmit back requests for support via a special radio link.
   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. 2013, Dr Ian Gooderson, Air Power at the Battlefront, page 26

verb

1. to move like a tentacle