flabellum

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Related to flabella: Falabella

fla·bel·lum

 (flə-bĕl′əm)
n. pl. fla·bel·la (-bĕl′ə)
A fan-shaped anatomical structure.

[Latin flābellum, fan, diminutive of flābra, breeze, from flāre, to blow; see bhlē- in Indo-European roots.]
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

flabellum

(fləˈbɛləm)
n, pl -la (-lə)
1. (Zoology) a fan-shaped organ or part, such as the tip of the proboscis of a honeybee
2. (Roman Catholic Church) RC Church a large ceremonial fan
[C19: from Latin: small fan, from flābra breezes, from flāre to blow]
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

fla•bel•lum

(fləˈbɛl əm)

n., pl. -bel•la (-ˈbɛl ə)
1. a fan, esp. one used in religious ceremonies.
2. Biol. a fan-shaped organ or part.
[1865–70; < Latin flābellum fan, diminutive of flābra breezes, derivative of flā(re) to blow2]
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
References in classic literature ?
It was four in the afternoon--that is, the vulgar afternoon of the sun and the clock--and Mrs Wititterly reclined, according to custom, on the drawing-room sofa, while Kate read aloud a new novel in three volumes, entitled 'The Lady Flabella,' which Alphonse the doubtful had procured from the library that very morning.
'"Cherizette," said the Lady Flabella, inserting her mouse-like feet in the blue satin slippers, which had unwittingly occasioned the half-playful half-angry altercation between herself and the youthful Colonel Befillaire, in the Duke of Mincefenille's SALON DE DANSE on the previous night.
'"MERCIE--thank you," said the Lady Flabella, as the lively but devoted Cherizette plentifully besprinkled with the fragrant compound the Lady Flabella's MOUCHOIR of finest cambric, edged with richest lace, and emblazoned at the four corners with the Flabella crest, and gorgeous heraldic bearings of that noble family.
'At this instant, while the Lady Flabella yet inhaled that delicious fragrance by holding the MOUCHOIR to her exquisite, but thoughtfully-chiselled nose, the door of the BOUDOIR (artfully concealed by rich hangings of silken damask, the hue of Italy's firmament) was thrown open, and with noiseless tread two VALETS-DE- CHAMBRE, clad in sumptuous liveries of peach-blossom and gold, advanced into the room followed by a page in BAS DE SOIE--silk stockings--who, while they remained at some distance making the most graceful obeisances, advanced to the feet of his lovely mistress, and dropping on one knee presented, on a golden salver gorgeously chased, a scented BILLET.
'The Lady Flabella, with an agitation she could not repress, hastily tore off the ENVELOPE and broke the scented seal.
latifolia is bipolar [1], and the basidiocarps are composed of numerous loosely arranged flabella that are morphologically large, broad, dissected, and slightly contorted [2].
Then to a very different soundtrack--"Song for Athene" by the 20th-century British composer John Tavener--Pope Pius XIII makes his entrance atop the sedia gestatoria, or portable throne carried by 12 footmen and flanked by the flabella, or massive ceremonial fans made of white ostrich feathers.