tentacle

tentacle
    n 1: something that acts like a tentacle in its ability to grasp
         and hold; "caught in the tentacles of organized crime"
    2: any of various elongated tactile or prehensile flexible
       organs that occur on the head or near the mouth in many
       animals; used for feeling or grasping or locomotion
    

Tentacle \Ten"ta*cle\, n. [NL. tentaculum, from L. tentare to
   handle, feel: cf. F. tentacule. See {Tempt}.] (Zool.)
   A more or less elongated process or organ, simple or
   branched, proceeding from the head or cephalic region of
   invertebrate animals, being either an organ of sense,
   prehension, or motion.
   [1913 Webster]

   {Tentacle sheath} (Zool.), a sheathlike structure around the
      base of the tentacles of many mollusks.
      [1913 Webster]
    

tentacle
 n.

   A covert {pseudo}, sense 1. An artificial identity created in
   cyberspace for nefarious and deceptive purposes. The implication is
   that a single person may have multiple tentacles. This term was
   originally floated in some paranoid ravings on the cypherpunks list
   (see {cypherpunk}), and adopted in a spirit of irony by other, saner
   members. It has since shown up, used seriously, in the documentation
   for some remailer software, and is now (1994) widely recognized on the
   net.