tassel

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. A bunch of loose threads or cords bound at one end and hanging free at the other, used as an ornament on curtains or clothing, for example.
2. n. Something that resembles such an ornament, especially the pollen-bearing inflorescence of a corn plant.
3. v. To fringe or decorate with tassels.
4. v. To put forth a tassellike inflorescence. Used especially of corn.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A pendent ornament, consisting generally of a roundish mold covered with twisted threads of silk, wool, etc., which hang down in a thick fringe. The mold is sometimes omitted. The loose tuft terminating it may be of the finest raveled silk, or of stout twists of gold or silver wire. Tassels are frequently attached to the corners of cushions, to curtains, walking-canes, umbrella-handles, sword-hilts, etc., but are (1891) gradually passing out of use.
2. n. Anything resembling a tassel, as the pendent head or flower of some plants; specifically, the staminate inflorescence at the summit of the stalk of Indian corn (maize); also, locally, the bunch of so-called “silk” protruding from the top of an ear of maize.
3. n. In heraldry, a bearing representing a tassel, usually or. Its use as a separate bearing is derived from its constant appearance in connection with armorial mantles, robes of state, and the like.
4. n. Eccles., a small plate of beaten gold or silver, sometimes jeweled, sewed on the back of a bishop's glove.
5. n. A small ribbon of silk sewed to a book, to be put between the leaves.
6. To attach a tassel or tassels to; decorate with tassels of any kind.
7. To remove the tassel from (growing Indian corn), for the purpose of improving the crop. First Annual Report of Kansas Experiment Station.
8. To put forth a tassel: said of trees or plants, especially of maize.
9. n. An obsolete form of teazel.
10. n. Same as tussle.
11. n. Same as tercel.
12. n. In architecture, same as torsel.

Wiktionary

1. n. A ball-shaped bunch of plaited or otherwise entangled threads from which at one end protrudes a cord on which the tassel is hung, and which may have loose, dangling threads at the other end. Tassels are normally decorative elements, and as such one often finds them attached, usually along the bottom hem, to garments, curtains or other hangings.
2. n. The male inflorescence of maize, which consists of loose threads with anthers on them.
3. n. The loose hairs at the end of a braid.
4. v. to adorn with tassels

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. (Falconry) A male hawk. See tercel.
2. n. A kind of bur used in dressing cloth; a teasel.
3. n. A pendent ornament, attached to the corners of cushions, to curtains, and the like, ending in a tuft of loose threads or cords.
4. n. The flower or head of some plants, esp. when pendent.
5. n. A narrow silk ribbon, or the like, sewed to a book to be put between the leaves.
6. n. (Arch.) A piece of board that is laid upon a wall as a sort of plate, to give a level surface to the ends of floor timbers; -- rarely used in the United States.
7. v. To put forth a tassel or flower.
8. v. To adorn with tassels.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. adornment consisting of a bunch of cords fastened at one end