[f. LABR-UM + -ET.] An ornament consisting of a piece of stone, bone, shell, etc., inserted in the lip.
1857. A. Armstrong, N. W. Passage, vii. 193. In the Esquimaux … we observed the lower lip perforated in the males, for the admission of labrets or lip ornaments.
1872. R. F. Burton, Zanzibar, I. iv. 113. As a rule, the South American ‘Indians’ pierce for their labrets the lower lip.
1884. J. G. Bourke, Snake Dance of Moquis, xxii. 243. They do not tattoo, do not use nose-rings or labrets.
