headletn.
/ˈhɛdlᵻt/, U.S. /ˈhɛdlət/ A little or miniature head; (Botany) each of the parts of a flowering plant that together constitute a compound inflorescence; an umbellule. Also: †a bud of a plant (obsolete rare).
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the world > plants > part of plant > head or heart > [noun] > head or top
cropa700
top?1523
head1577
headlet1577
come1578
pome1658
cyma1706
cyme1725
capitulum1791
1577 W. Harrison Hist. Descr. Islande Brit. iii. xiv. f. 113v/1, in R. Holinshed Chron. I The heads [of the crocus] are sayd to childe, that is to yelde out of some partes of them dyuers other hedlets.
1787 E. Darwin et al. tr. C. Linnaeus et al. Families of Plants I. 3 Headlet [L. capitulum] flat, with the side declining to the nectary.
1835 Gardener’s Mag. July 375 This head is constituted of numerous smaller headlets (capitula), each of about five flowers.
1846 J. O. Halliwell Dict. Archaic & Provinc. Words I Headlets, buds of plants. West.
1889 Trans. Royal Soc. Victoria 1 ii. 8 Headlets of flowers few, at or near the upper end of the stem or branches.
1903 Victorian Naturalist 7 May 8 What a tiny flower in comparison to the European Edelweiss, the delicate daisy-like headlets only about 3/ 16 of an inch across.
1965 Perspectives New Music 4 95 Most enchanting is the little god's bird, and on its swaying headlet the Xihnitzolli.
1973 Stud. Pre-Columbian Art No. 11. 24/1 Three similar statues..all of which have several headlets suspended from necklaces.
2007 J. Manning Field Guide Fynbos 264 The flower spikes comprise headlets of 6–9 pink flowers.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2013; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1577