Definitions

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

  • noun A strap-shaped or tonguelike structure, especially the terminal portion of the labium in the mouthparts of certain insects.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In botany, same as ligule.
  • noun In entomology: A fleshy, membranaceous, or horny anterior part of the labium, attached to the inner surface of the mentum, by which it is sometimes entirely concealed; the terminal or distal one of the three component parts of the labium.
  • noun A process on the elytra of certain beetles. See elytral.—
  • noun In anatomy, a band of white nervous substance bordering the membranous covering of the posterior part of the fourth ventricle of the brain on each side, and extending from the clava to the striæ acusticæ, where it winds around the restiform bodies. Also called tænia ventriculi quarti, ala pontis, and ponticulus.
  • noun [capitalized] A genus of simple cestoid worms, type of the family Ligulidæ, having an unsegmented elongated body with two lateral depressions at the head end, and numerous sets of sexual organs in longitudinal series opening on the median line of the body. These endoparasites inhabit fishes and amphibians, and acquire their matured character in water-birds.
  • noun [capitalized] A genus of mollusks.

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

  • noun (Bot.) See ligule.
  • noun The central process, or front edge, of the labium of insects. It sometimes serves as a tongue or proboscis, as in bees.
  • noun A tongue-shaped lobe of the parapodia of annelids. See Parapodium.

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

  • noun A strap or strap-shaped object, especially such a development in plants or insects

Etymologies

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

[Latin, diminutive of lingua, tongue; see dn̥ghū- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Latin ligula ("strap, spoon"), a variant of lingula ‘small tongue-shaped object’, itself partly derived from lingere ‘lick’ and partly a diminutive of lingua ‘tongue’.

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Examples

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  • Another pair of scales had two cups, with a weight on the side opposite to the material weighed, to mark more accurately the fractional weight; this weight was called by the ancients ligula, and examen.

    Museum of Antiquity A Description of Ancient Life

  • Bouclier: the pronotum, q.v. Bouton: a button; the terminal lappet-like process at the tip of the ligula in bees: = spoon.

    Explanation of Terms Used in Entomology John. B. Smith

  • Papilla: a minute, soft projection: specifically the modified ligula in silk spinning caterpillars.

    Explanation of Terms Used in Entomology John. B. Smith

  • The very large sporangia (_M_, _sp. _) are in cavities at the bases of the leaves, and above each sporangium is a little pointed outgrowth (ligula), which is also found in the leaves of

    Elements of Structural and Systematic Botany For High Schools and Elementary College Courses Douglas Houghton Campbell

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