Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A pincerlike claw of a crustacean or arachnid, such as a lobster, crab, or scorpion.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun See cheela.
  • noun In sponge-spicules, a microsclere consisting of a more or loss curved shaft bearing at each end a variable number of recurved processes.
  • noun The pair of pincers or nippers, or the so-called claw, which terminates some of the limbs of most Crustacea, as crabs and lobsters, formed by an enlarged propodite bearing a movably apposed dactylopodite; the last and penultimate segments of a chelate limb or cheliped so modified as to constitute a prehensile organ like a pair of pincers.
  • noun The similar nipper- or pincer-like claw terminating the chelicera of an arachnidan, as a scorpion. In these two senses also chele.
  • noun A genus of cyprinoid fishes.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Zoöl.) The pincherlike claw of Crustacea and Arachnida.
  • noun In India, a dependent person occupying a position between that of a servant or slave and a disciple; hence, a disciple or novice.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A pincer-like claw of a crustacean or arachnid.
  • noun A pupil or disciple, especially in Hinduism.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a Hindu disciple of a swami
  • noun a grasping structure on the limb of a crustacean or other arthropods

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[New Latin chēla, from Greek khēlē, claw.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin chele, from Ancient Greek χηλή (khēlē).

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Hindi चेला (celā).

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Examples

  • The term chela, commonly used for a Hindu disciple who leaves household life to live and study with

    Relating to a Spiritual Teacher: Building a Healthy Relationship ��� 3 The Traditional Meaning of a Spiritual Seeker 2000

  • They are usually accompanied by a youthful disciple, called a "chela," a boy of from 10 to 15 years of age, who will become a fakir himself unless something occurs to change his career.

    Modern India William Eleroy Curtis 1880

  • Una cheve is una chela, una fría, una Corona (this can be any brand of beer), una birria, una caguama (if it's a really big bottle).

    Weekend drinking 2009

  • Una cheve is una chela, una fría, una Corona (this can be any brand of beer), una birria, una caguama (if it's a really big bottle).

    Weekend drinking 2009

  • Una cheve is una chela, una fría, una Corona (this can be any brand of beer), una birria, una caguama (if it's a really big bottle).

    Weekend drinking 2009

  • Una cheve is una chela, una fría, una Corona (this can be any brand of beer), una birria, una caguama (if it's a really big bottle).

    Weekend drinking 2009

  • Una cheve is una chela, una fría, una Corona (this can be any brand of beer), una birria, una caguama (if it's a really big bottle).

    Weekend drinking 2009

  • Una cheve is una chela, una fría, una Corona (this can be any brand of beer), una birria, una caguama (if it's a really big bottle).

    Weekend drinking 2009

  • Una cheve is una chela, una fría, una Corona (this can be any brand of beer), una birria, una caguama (if it's a really big bottle).

    Weekend drinking 2009

  • Una cheve is una chela, una fría, una Corona (this can be any brand of beer), una birria, una caguama (if it's a really big bottle).

    Weekend drinking 2009

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