Also 5–7 langett(e, 5–8 langet, 6, 9 languette, 7 langate, langot. [a. F. languette, dim. of langue tongue.] Anything shaped like a little tongue.
† 1. The tongue of a balance. Obs.
1413. Pilgr. Sowle (Caxton), I. xiv. (1859), 11. Pledours in worldly courtes hauen tonges lyke to the languet of the balaunce that draweth hym … to the more peysaunt party.
† 2. A tongue-shaped ornament; esp. a ‘drop’ of amber, jet, etc. Obs.
1430. Will of Grymston (Somerset Ho.). J par precum de jete langettes.
1451. Will of Halle (ibid.). Par precum de Aumbre voc. langetes.
1538. Elyot, Dict., Langurium, langettes of aumbre, lyke to longe beadestones.
a. 1548. Hall, Chron., Hen. VIII. (1809), 791. A clothe of estate of the same worke, valanced with frettes knotted and langettes tassaled with Venice golde and siluer.
† 3. The thong used for tying a shoe, a latchet.
c. 1460. Towneley Myst., iii. 224. Take the ther a langett To tye vp thi hose.
1674. Ray, N. C. Words, 28. The Langot of the Shooe; The latchet of the shooe.
1688. R. Holme, Armoury, III. 291/2. The Punching Lead is for the Punching of Holes in the instep and Langetts of a Shooe for the ties to go through.
1787. Grose, Prov. Gloss., Langot.
4. Applied to tongue-shaped parts of various implements; e.g., a narrow blade projecting at the edge of a spade.
1611. Florio, Lingula … Also that parte of the barre which is put vnder the weight, and sticketh in the roller, the point, end or languet.
1649. Blithe, Eng. Improv. Impr. (1653), 68. Which Spade shoo must be made with two sides, or Langets, up from the end of the bit, like as if you would plant two broad Knife Blades to look upwards with their points upon a common Spade.
1659. Torriano, Stile, a languet or pin of a pair of writing-tables.
1669. Worlidge, Syst. Agric. (1681), 231. For the cutting Trenches in Watery, Clayie, or Morish Lands, they usually use a Spade, with a Langet or Fin like a knife, turned up by the side of the Spade, and sometimes on both sides.
1677. Plot, Oxfordsh., 238. [A pipe] terminated in a very small Cistern of water behind a stone of the rock, and having a mouth and Languet just above its surface.
1727. Bradley, Fam. Dict., s.v. Chimney, If the Funnel is loose, you must have Languets or Tenons at the Sides.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., Languet, Languette … 2. A thin tongue of metal placed between the blades of a comb-cutter’s saw, to preserve their distance. 3. A small piece of metal on a sword-hilt which overhangs the scabbard.
5. Organ-building. In a flue-pipe: A flat plate or tongue fastened by its edge to the top of the foot, and opposite the mouth. Also LANGUID sb.
1852. Seidel, Organ, 21. An organ … which contained the following labial or languet registers.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., s.v. Mouth-pipe, At a point opposite the mouth … a languette, or plate, is placed, nearly closing the interior area of the pipe.
† 6. a. A spatula. b. (See quot. 1656.) Obs.
1580. Hollyband, Treas. Fr. Tong, Magdaleons, a langate, or roller, little round stones like a roller.
1611. Cotgr., s.v. Magdaleon.
1611. Florio, Lingua … Also a little spatle or languet to take salues out of a boxe.
1656. Blount, Glossogr., Magdaleon, a Langate or long plaister like a Rowler Dr. Br[owne].
1823. Crabb, Technol. Dict., Langate, a linen roller for a wound.
7. A ‘tongue’ or narrow projecting piece of land.
1610. Holland, Camden’s Brit., I. 606. From the Citie, Northwestward, there Shooteth out a languet of land or promontorie of the maine-land into the Sea.
1652–62. Heylin, Cosmogr., IV. (1682), 40. At the point of a long Languet, or tongue of Rock.
1670. Blount, Glossogr., Langate or Languet, a long and narrow peece of land or other thing.
1673. Ray, Journ. Low C. (1738), I. 239. The haven of Messina is … compassed almost round with the city on one side, and a narrow languet or neck of land on the other.
† 8. gen. A tongue-shaped piece of anything. Obs.
1686. Plot, Staffordsh., 266. A true Hippomanes, or Languet of flesh of a dark purple colour near four inches long, that dropt from the forehead of a Colt newly foled.
9. Zool. One of the row of little tongue-like or tentacular processes along the dorsal edge of the branchial sac of an ascidian.
1849–52. Todd, Cycl. Anat., IV. 1219/2. The branchial sac of the Botryllidæ is very similar to that of the Clavellinidæ.… The crest or fold corresponding to the anterior border of the branchial sinus has no membraneous languet.
1870. Rolleston, Anim. Life, 67. Along the opposite side of the branchial sac there runs the ‘oral lamina’ which in other species, such as Ascidia Intestinalis, may be represented by a row of ‘languettes.’
1878. Bell, Gegenbaur’s Comp. Anat., 401. The tongue-like appendages (‘languets’) found in Ascidians … form a long row along the dorsal surface.
