tentacle Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun something that acts like a tentacle in its ability to grasp and hold
    • caught in the tentacles of organized crime
  2. noun 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

WordNet

Ten"ta*cle noun
Etymology
NL. tentaculum, from L. tentare to handle, feel: cf. F. tentacule. See Tempt.
Definitions
  1. (Zoöl.) 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.

Webster 1913