Pl. alæ. [L. āla a wing, an arm-pit, a side apartment.]
1. Phys. Any wing-like process; esp. one of the lateral cartilages of the nose.
1755. Phil. Trans., XLIX. 193. I laid the intire bone bare … even down to the ala of the nose.
1856. Todd & Bowman, Phys. Anat., II. 111. The great ala of the sphenoid.
1864. Spencer, Illust. Progr., 11. The flatness of the alae of the nose.
2. Bot. † a. An axil, or junction of branch and trunk (obs.). b. One of the side petals of a papilionaceous corolla. Gray, Struct. Bot.
1794. Martyn, trans. Rousseau’s Bot., v. 50. Branches which grow from their alæ, or axils.
3. Arch. A side apartment or recess of a Roman house. (Hence AISLE of a church.)
1832. Gell, Pompeiana, I. i. 9. The atrium has two alæ in one of which is an altar.
