[f. TONGUE sb. + -LET.] A little tongue or tongue-like object; spec. a. in Entom. = LIGULA 1 b; b. tongue-worm (b): see TONGUE sb. 16 (Cent. Dict., 1891).
1840. E. Wilson, Anat. Vade M. (1842), 384. The Linguetta laminosa is a thin tonguelet of grey substance, marked by transverse furrows, which extend forwards … from the grey substance of the cerebellum.
1840. trans. Cuvier’s Anim. Kingd., 529. The tonguelet consists of two small hairy setæ, extending beyond the large horny mentum.
1866. J. K. Lord, in Intell. Observ., No. 48. 431. In this tube is the tonguelet [of a Cicada].
1878. Browning, Poets Croisic, v. I shall not sulk If yonder greenish tonguelet [of flame] licked from brass Its life.
