%seta%

n. 1. (Bot.) A leafless plant, with hollow and rushlike stems. It is of the genus Equisetum, and is allied to the ferns. See Illust. of Equisetum. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A Turkish standard, denoting rank. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Commanders are distinguished by the number of horsetails carried before them. Thus, the sultan has seven, the grand vizier five, and the pashas three, two, or one. [ 1913 Webster ]

Shrubby horsetail. (Bot.) See Joint-fir. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Bot.) A genus of ranunculaceous plants (Myosurus), in which the prolonged receptacle is covered with imbricating achenes, and so resembles the tail of a mouse. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ Sp. ] A Spanish silver coin, and money of account, equal to about nineteen cents (ca. 1900), and divided into 100 centesimos. Now replaced by the euro. [ 1913 Webster + PJC ]

‖n.; pl. Setae [ L. seta, saeta, a bristle. ] 1. (Biol.) Any slender, more or less rigid, bristlelike organ or part; as the hairs of a caterpillar, the slender spines of a crustacean, the hairlike processes of a protozoan, the bristles or stiff hairs on the leaves of some plants, or the pedicel of the capsule of a moss. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Zool.) (a) One of the movable chitinous spines or hooks of an annelid. They usually arise in clusters from muscular capsules, and are used in locomotion and for defense. They are very diverse in form. (b) One of the spinelike feathers at the base of the bill of certain birds. [ 1913 Webster ]