winglet
(ˈwɪŋlɪt)
[f. wing n. + -let.]
1. A little wing; also transf. something resembling a little wing, as a petal.
| 1611 [see 3]. 1800 Moore Anacreon iv. 19 And flights of loves, in wanton ringlets, Flit around on golden winglets. 1851 Meredith Poetry of Shelley 1 See'st thou a Skylark whose glistening winglets ascending Quiver like pulses beneath the melodious dawn? 1855 Allingham Day & Nt. Songs Ser. ii. The Choice iii, Pea-bloom winglets. |
2. a. Entom. A small appendage at the base of each wing or wing-sheath, as in certain flies and beetles, or on each side of the rostrum in certain weevils. b. Ornith. A process on the terminal joint of a bird's wing, clothed with small and somewhat stiff feathers: also called bastard or false wing.
| 1816 Kirby & Sp. Entomol. xxiii. (1818) II. 348 The winglets are small concavo-convex scales, of a stiff membranaceous substance. 1862 C. A. Johns Brit. Birds 263 The Jay..winglet and greater coverts barred with black, white, and bright blue. |
3. A small wing-like appendage on some part of dress.
| 1611 Florio, Talare,..certaine shooes with winglets as Mercury is fained to weare on his feet. 1870 C. C. Black tr. Demmin's Weapons of War 43 The small winglets that were attached to the shoulder-pieces of the earlier coats of leather and..were sorts of escutcheons. |
4. A small projecting part in a piece of mechanism: see quot.
| 1835 Ure Phil. Manuf. 227 L is the winglet, which in turning along with the spindle, has the power of making it traverse and distribute the thread evenly over the surface of the bobbin. |