n. [ OF. tassette. ] A piece of armor for the thighs, forming an appendage to the ancient corselet. [ 1913 Webster ]
☞ Usually the tasse was a plate of iron swinging from the cuirass, but the skirts of sliding splints were also called by this name. [ 1913 Webster ]
n. [ See Teasel. ] A kind of bur used in dressing cloth; a teasel. [ 1913 Webster ]
n. (Falconry) A male hawk. See Tercel. [ 1913 Webster ]
v. i.
v. t. To adorn with tassels. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]
n. [ OE., a fastening of a mantle, OF. tassel a fastening, clasp, F. tasseau a bracket, Fr. L. taxillus a little die, dim. of talus a die of a longish shape, rounded on two sides and marked only on the other four, a knuckle bone. ]
And the maize field grew and ripened, Till it stood in all the splendor
Of its garments green and yellow,
Of its tassels and its plumage. Longfellow. [ 1913 Webster ]
Tassel flower (Bot.),
n. [ See Tasse. ] A defense for the front of the thigh, consisting of one or more iron plates hanging from the belt on the lower edge of the corselet. [ 1913 Webster ]